In Search Of Freedom
by jolly roger pirate
Summary: What if the Mugiwara crew were swept off unchecked by the undersea storm and into the world of mages where exists a certain guild which is almost as rowdy and crazy as the Straw Hats? WORK SUSPENDED 4 A WHILE. VISIT PROFYL 4 INFO.
1. Prologue:The White Undersea Serpent

**Prologue: The white undersea serpent**

Through the depths of the Grand Line, or to be precise the New World, floated a melancholy ship. Yet, looking at the ship, one could literally feel happiness radiating from it. It was a pirate ship, though it would be impossible to declare it so if not for the Jolly Roger painted brightly on the sails and the pirate flag fluttering in response to the ship's movements. The ship was brightly colored and painted, with the figurehead of a lion smiling so brightly that it would be no exaggeration to say that it could outshine a thousand suns. And thus its name, the Thousand Sunny; the house to one of the most infamous pirate crews, the Mugiwara no Ichimi. And this was just a normal day for them, moving on underwater from the Fishman Island and whatnot...or was it?

* * *

"It's good to be back on the Sunny," declared Nami from the bath-tub. She was currently in the room that held the royal sized bath and was taking her luxury bath.

"Do you want to have a bath, Chopper?" Nami offered to her 17 years old crew-mate.

"No thanks! I've scrubbed myself clean when I first got in the Sunny," said Chopper, looking curiously around the room at the clouds floating around the bath-tub.

"The Sunny's bath is so good. I've missed it during my training," Nami said sighing.

"Still," said Chopper, shifting his attention back to the navigator, "Do you think it is a good idea to be here while letting Franky steer the ship?"

"Oh, I've instructed Franky well. I am sure he won't mess up. And if trouble comes the boys can handle it well, I'm sure of it," said Nami confidently.

"But still, they are making a lot of ruckus on the deck," said Chopper. That made Nami a little concerned, but she shifted back to a jolly mood immediately after.

"So what do you think about my new '_shower tempo'_, Chopper?" she inquired the doctor, even as two perverted shadows appeared at the bathroom door and started peeping at the bathtub, or more precisely the person in the bathtub.

"Well, it's very soft and fluffy!" said Chopper, drooling. To his eyes, the clouds were akin to cotton-candy.

'_Soft and fluffy?'_ thought the blonde haired shadow.

'_Yeah, it _is _fluffy...and soft,'_ thought the curly-haired shadow.

"Chopper, stay away from the clouds, all right?" said Nami gravely.

"Okay," said Chopper, even as a small black cloud floated away towards the door, passing over Chopper's head. And once outside, the small cloud unleashed a massive lightning strike that fried everything in the room with a deafening thunder.

"Whoa! I don't want to eat clouds anymore!"

* * *

"Oi, Ussopp! Have you finished the fishing rope?" asked Luffy, curiosity evident in his voice.

"Not yet. Our enemies are the deep-sea fishes. So we will need a strong rope to hold them, otherwise we will lose," said Ussopp and cast a critical look upon his work, and then gave it a final, strong tug.

"Aaaand...done!" he said holding his craft, which was a thick rope with a double hook tied on one of its ends, the other being fixed to the fore-mast. Nearby lay a giant slingshot, another of Ussopp's crafts.

"Fufufufu! Luffy-san, you're quite excited, aren't you?" remarked Robin.

"Yeah! On our way to Fishman Island I was too excited to get there, so I forgot the fun part. But not now..." replied Luffy, while Ussopp frowned in thought.

"Hmm...so which one to choose? Ah! That would make some good fish-fry with salad," He said, eyeing a huge fish about the same size as their ship.

"No...that one would taste good with mayonnaise," said Luffy pointing at a puffer-fish about the same size as the former one.

"But that one would be good if grilled," Said Zoro, looking at a gigantic eel that could probably loop itself around the Sunny-go.

"Oh well, let's just get one!" hollered Luffy and prepared a fist.

**Gomu Gomu no...Jet pistol**

And the one floating with its belly up happened to be the one Luffy had chosen.

"You just wanted to eat that one with mayonnaise!" accused Ussopp comically.

"Quick! Quick, Ussopp! Catch it before it drifts away!" exclaimed Luffy

"Sure," said Ussopp, grimacing, and put on his sniper goggles, while loading the hook in the giant slingshot.

**Capture Star**

The rope with the double hook went flying away from the makeshift giant slingshot...and grappled the mouth of the puffer-fish. But just then, an even more gigantic fish of about thrice the size of the Sunny chomped down on the puffer-fish.

"Whoa! Our fish became bait!" cried Ussopp, astonished.

And then, to even greater surprise of the three pseudo-fishermen, an even more gigantic fish many times larger than the ship gobbled up the fish which had eaten the puffer-fish.

"Whoa! Whoa!" Ussopp cried out in utmost surprise. But Zoro then regained his bearing and unsheathed one of his swords.

**Ittoryu...360 Pound Hou**

A huge gust of wind then erupted from Zoro's blade and pierced through the fish's throat and bored all the way to its head, making a gaping hole from its head to its throat.

"Way to go, Zoro!" cheered Luffy. And just then Sanji walked down carrying Brook, both charred from head to toe. Sanji saw the fish and mused out loud.

"A deep-sea fish? Hmm, sounds good! I'll prepare it right away," said he.

"And it's better because there is a fish within a fish within that fish," responded Luffy, referring to the fish he wanted to eat.

"But you guys are totally fried up. Are you sure you are going to be okay?" said Ussopp looking at Brook and Sanji's condition.

"I can feel a tingle down my back, only I have no skin! Yohohohoho!" mumbled Brook delusionally. But then Zoro looked up and away from the ship.

"What is that?" he asked to himself. Ussopp looked back to see what Zoro was staring at, and what he saw caused his eyes to widen.

"WHAT THE...!" he cried. Robin, hearing his shout, turned around, only to have shock painted on her face.

"Is that...Is that a great sea serpent? No...that's...could it be...?" mused Robin out aloud. By now Luffy had started hollering in excitement, while Ussopp was whimpering in fear. Hearing all the commotion in the deck, Nami, adorned with a towel, came out along Chopper. And her eyes immediately widened.

"WHAT THE HELL!" she cried, after having seen the very reason of the commotion, "IT IS THE WHITE STORM!"

The aforementioned object was a huge snaking white typhoon like undersea storm, whose neither beginning nor end could be perceived.

"Anything that gets sucked into it gets transported thousands of miles away. There had been instances of ships getting sucked into it reappearing an enormous distance away with their crew missing!" said Nami sweating heavily.

"UWAHH!" Ussopp cried out in fear, while Chopper held on to Ussopp's legs, shutting his eyes.

"So...that's the fabled 'wrap zone'?!" said Luffy, turning red in excitement.

"No, it is not!" cried Ussopp, while whacking Luffy on his head annoyed by his stupidity. Suddenly a door banged somewhere and Franky appeared, while glaring at everyone on the deck.

"Why isn't Sunny-Go moving forward?" he growled, looking accusingly at his captain.

"WHAT? Wait, wait...what the hell is that thing?" cried Nami, pointing towards the giant fish.

"Fish," replied Luffy.

"I CAN SEE!" Nami bellowed, "Cut that damned thing off!"

"WHAT?!" cried Luffy, Zoro, Sanji and Ussopp together, apparently mortified that she could come up with such a prospect. But the fish was already starting to be sucked in by the undersea typhoon.

"It's too SUPER late to steer away even with a coup-de-burst!" shouted Franky, even as the Sunny was moving violently towards the white whirlwind.

"HOLD ON TIGHT!" was the last cry that rang up aboard the Sunny.

**Well, that was the prologue. Hope you liked it :) Well, this is my first piece of creation, so it might be inadequate. However, I promise to try my best. So please review! Namaste!**


	2. Chapter-1: On Tenrou Island

**CH-1: On Tenrou Island**

On Tenrou Island a certain examination was taking place. Yet, oblivious to all on the island, the island was turning out to be a hotspot for the get together of the strongest among various factions. And it wasn't limited to just mages.

A swirl appeared on the sky above the island, while 9 unconscious people fell scattered about the island.

"Where the hell am I?" groaned Franky, while pushing himself up from the ground. And then he remembered passing out after getting into the violently spinning storm.

"I am going to MURDER those idiots when I get back," he growled in annoyance.

"That's a good attitude, don't ya think so?" declared a voice from the shadows.

"Ya got that right-peperon," squawked another voice.

"Who the hell are you?" said Franky in his abnormally rough voice, while two figures came into his line of sight.

"It doesn't matter," said the long-eared person taking out a long katana.

"As you wish, you goat and chicken," said Franky, grinning menacingly.

* * *

Sanji stood up and lit a cigarette. He wondered where he was as he took a drag from the cigarette. Most probably in an island in the New World, he reasoned. Right now, his priorities were to make sure that his beloved Nami-san and Robin-chan were all right. But everything disappeared from his mind when a fuming young woman with a beautiful, wavy blue hair strode towards his direction. Sanji immediately shifted into his mellorne mode. With a visible heart in his eyes, he twirled towards the girl.

"Oh, you beauty," said Sanji, drifting off into a poetic style of speaking, "Where are you storming off to, with your angry frown and beautiful hair that puts the sea to shame?"

"Umm...who are you?" said the girl, or Levy, as is her name.

"I am your knight in shining armor, my dear princess, or you may call me Mr. Prince," said Sanji.

"Uhhh...I gotta go," said Levy, clearly freaked out.

"Me too!~" said Sanji with hearts coming out of his visible eye. Suddenly he was hit by something hard in his side and he went skidding away.

"You're so short that it's hard to find you, shrimp," drawled his attacker, who was actually the iron dragon slayer of Fairy Tail, Gazeel, "So stay close to me."

Levy shed a tear of happiness at this. But right now, Gazeel was looking downright lethal and could have caused even battle hardened mages to drop their gaze, but just not the one in front of him.

"Who the hell are you, shitty bastard?" drawled Sanji, chomping down on his cigarette and looking equally, if not more, threatening than Gazeel.

* * *

**Weapons Left**

A barrage of egg yolks and explosive pellets clashed together, causing an explosion to rock the place.

**Kan**

The long-eared person, namely Yomazu, did a thrust attack with his katana at Franky, who dodged the attack. The katana created a symbol and made a deep incision in the ground.

The whole area was shaking with a loud noise, which was really annoying Franky and causing him to be unable to focus. This was the courtesy of Yomazu's magic.

**Strong Right**

Franky's right fist burst forward at a breakneck speed, hitting the chicken-guy Kawazu in his guts. As Kawazu was blasted backwards, however, Yomazu took advantage of it and scored a light cut Franky's side. He grunted, but otherwise shook the attack off. Even as he reeled his right fist in, two skin-like slots opened up on his shoulders, showing two cannons fitted within him. And then he roared.

**Franky Cannon**

Yomazu was able to cut up most of the cannon balls, but one among the barrage did manage to tag him, and he was engulfed in an explosion, like much of the surrounding area was. But while Yomazu got up after a little struggle, with Kawazu reunited with him, this attack did in fact help Franky a little. The noise had stopped.

'_Whatever weird powers they use, that _has _actually diminished after my attack. They are no longer bothering to use that stupid noise that gets into my nerves. That could mean only one thing...they are conserving every bit of energy to bring me down, which means that they will get more vicious. I'll have to take it up a notch,' _thought Franky.

Yomazu and Kawazu were indeed about to give it their all. They knew that they could defeat that guy only if they went all out.

"I must say, you're a good fighter. What's your name?" asked Yomazu.

"I am Franky, the SUPER shipwright, ow! I'm the best you'll ever find, yeah!" cried Franky, sounding overly loud, just like he usually did.

"Shipwright?! I never heard that they had a shipwright...perhaps a new recruit? But how the hell could a new recruit be so strong?" mused Yomazu.

"Doesn't matter-peperon!" whispered Kawazu fiercely.

"Right! Hey you, do you know that your island is being invaded? Hear me closely. Even if you defeat us, there will be no respite for you. Because even as we are speaking the Seven Kin of Purgatory, against whom even we have no chance against, are approaching this island. And there is the Master, who is a god, and Bluenote-sama. You truly have no chances to win," said Yomazu smirking.

"Oi just quit that talk! We hear these kinds of big talks everywhere we go. So save your breath, idiots. You'll need it to stay alive. On this very island there are other people as strong as me. And that's not even counting the three SUPER monsters. This Seven Kin of Pervertary has no chance against us," replied Franky while striking a pose.

"Its 'purgatory', not 'pervertary', you idiot-peron!" cried Kawazu, while Yomazu sweat-dropped at Franky's antics. And then Yomazu sighed dramatically.

"It's no use, then. Trying to help you surrender, that is," said Yomazu and attacked. He attacked faster than ever, a piercing attack bursting towards Franky with a letter appearing near the base of the sword. Franky sidestepped the attack and cocked back his fist.

**Strong Right**

**Bou**

The fist collided harmlessly with Yomazu's barrier and got deflected.

**Fire**

As Franky was reeling his right arm in, he felt a huge barrage of eggs behind him. He spun around and countered.

**Franky Fireball**

A fire breath as strong as a certain mage's collided with the eggs and fried them.

**Zan**

Yomazu took this distraction as a chance to attack Franky from behind, but Franky had guessed as much.

**Strong Right**

Franky did a backhand attack right at Yomazu's face, surprising him and sending him flying away. Yomazu landed a couple of meters away, while Franky turned around to face him.

**Heavy Egg Rain**

Franky's eyes widened as he realized too late that a heavy shower of eggs was heading towards him. He whirled around, cursing that he didn't have haki. And then Franky was engulfed in the shower of eggs which threw up dust and debris all around him. The dust billowed and curled, while the strange duo waited in anticipation.

"You guys are really annoying me!" roared a voice from the dust filled area, from which the dust was now clearing at a fast pace. By the time the dust had settled, the two grew nervous. Franky stood there, completely unscathed, but he looked different. He had his rock-star glasses on, and his army-cut had changed into a strange, wavy hairstyle.

"What? His grows if someone successfully attacks him-peron?" cried a bewildered Kawazu.

"Shut up and fight!" roared Franky, even louder than he normally sounded. But it had a miraculous effect on his two opponents. They broke from the stupor and got ready to attack.

**Heavy Egg Rain**

Kawazu fired a large and swift barrage of eggs, but was surprised when Franky didn't even bother to dodge. He simply took the barrage. And then the dust shrouded him from view.

**Strong Right**

From the dust cloud a big red fist came flying and hit Kawazu right on his chest. Kawazu was flung far away, and he felt his consciousness slipping, but somehow barely managed to stay awake. But he was defeated and out of magic, and he knew that. As the fist started to go back to its owner, reeled in by the chain that connected them, Yomazu charged, without even waiting for the smoke to clear.

**Weapons Left**

**Bou**

The barrage of explosive palettes clashed with Yomazu barrier, but Yomazu didn't break his stride. But Kawazu then jumped at Franky from behind with his last remaining strength, and his attempt at distraction worked, because Franky shifted his attention to him to deliver a devastating backhand at him which sent him flying and rendered him unconscious.

"You're open" cried a voice in front of him. By the time Franky shifted his attention to Yomazu and tried to dodge, it was already too late.

**Dark Sword: Naru-Kami**

Yomazu's attack sliced through Franky, but thankfully didn't go deep enough to damage his circuits.

"UGH" cried Franky and staggered.

'_Damn! How tough is that guy? That was my strongest attack, and he wasn't even prepared. Yet this guy is standing as if I barely drew blood!' _thought Yomazu, whereas Franky stood astonished.

'_What the hell? He managed to cut me?! Had I been like I was before, it would have put me down for sure. As I am now, I will heal, me being made by shape-memory alloy and whatnot. But still...well, that is to be expected, I guess, since this is the New World and all,' _mused Franky.

"You fought well," said Yomazu, "I will end this now."

Yomazu dashed forward, pouring all his magic into this last attack. He meant to finish this, but so did Franky. He opened his shoulder cabinet, revealing three dangerous looking missiles.

**Franky Rocket Launcher**

And before Yomazu could even blink, the missiles collided with him. And then he was caught up in an extremely powerful explosion which decimated the surrounding and completely charred him.

"Damn animal bastards," muttered Franky as he pushed up his rock-star glasses. He walked towards a random direction, while his hair disappeared into his formal army cut again. He hoped he would find Sunny soon.

* * *

**Iron Dragon's Pillar**

The iron dragon's attack was met with a firm resistance, which was a black foot at the end of the rod.

"ORRAGH!" Gazeel cried as he pushed himself and Sanji apart.

'_Damn! He's crazy strong and even more crazy fast...' _thought the dragon slayer.

"That's all you got? How would you take care of a lady with just that much power? I'm not saying that you're weak, just saying that you can't save a lady like that," Sanji drawled, taking a puff of his cigarette. But then his mood took a 180 degree turn.

"So I say I will take care of you, lady!~" he said twirling around happily, while Levy was frozen in the spot, too freaked out to even move.

'_This guy is even worse than Loke,' _she thought sweat-dropping, while Gazeel had a tick mark on his head, really annoyed by Sanji's attitude.

"Are we fighting or not?" he cried.

"Let's make a bet. Whoever wins this fight shall get to woo the lady" said Sanji seriously. But this caused Levy to snap, and she attacked Sanji.

**Solid Script: Fire**

"Stop making me a prize!" she cried. But once saw that her attack didn't even scratch Sanji, she immediately became afraid.

"Ah! Sorry, sorry, sorry-," she mumbled, but she broke off when she saw Sanji wiggling happily.

"Ah, cutie-chan looks so beautiful when she attacks someone and then apologies!~ Of course cutie-chan, I will stop using you as a prize!~" he cried while wiggling happily. But he had to stop his jovial wiggles as a roar rang out.

**Iron Dragon's Sword**

Sanji dodged the ridiculously big arm-sword and kicked the now steel scale covered Gazeel on the chest, which caused Gazeel to fly off and impact with a boulder, splintering it.

"Bastard!" growled Gazeel.

**Iron Dragon's Roar**

A huge gust of wind filled with large iron shards and slabs cleared out a big space in the battleground. But Sanji was nowhere to be seen, having already predicted it with haki.

**Diable Jambe...**

Gazeel whirled around, as he heard a voice behind him, but it was already too late.

**...Flange Shot**

A flaming leg collided in the upper part of his chest and he was sent flying. Strange thing was that even though he had turned himself to iron a while ago to reduce the massive damage that Sanji's kicks did, he still found himself writhing in great pain as he coughed up a copious amount of blood.

'_This is bad. That flaming leg of his could be the end of me,' _thought Gazeel.

**Solid script: Iron**

Gazeel watched in wonder as a large amount of iron appeared before him, materialized by Levy's magic.

"Thanks," he mouthed and smiled. And then he started eating, drifting back into his memories.

Sanji watched in wonder as his opponent slowly got up and stood there, panting.

'_He's got a strong will,' _thought Sanji. He couldn't help but admire this person's will, even though he was Sanji's opponent.

'_I cannot lose. Not now, not here. Because...'_ thought Gazeel as he steeled his will with the emotions that flowed within him like a storm. And then he roared.

"I am a Fairy Tail mage!" he cried, strengthening his resolve to an almost unbreakable point.

**Iron Dragon Slayer Secret Technique: Karma Demon Iron God Sword**

A huge gash ran across the ground from Gazeel's feet to a large distance away. But Sanji was yet again nowhere to be seen.

"GAZEEL, RUN!" cried Levy, her voice tinted with fear and horror, because she had seen it all. She had seen this strange man literally run through thin air with a tremendous speed and no apparent difficulty, thus completely avoiding Gazeel's devastating attacks. And now she had seen him get behind Gazeel, cocking his flaming leg back. But Gazeel hadn't received the warning fast enough.

"You have a strong will, iron bastard. Get stronger," he heard Sanji say behind him. He whirled around and crossed his steel scaled arms, but he knew it was too late. Sanji's right leg flared behind him like a bright star.

**Bien Cuit: Grill Shot**

And Sanji's leg hit Gazeel's stomach, just below where he had crossed his arms for defense. The kick had a devastating effect without even counting the impact of the kick. Gazeel's entire steel torso glowed as brightly as Sanji's right leg, while his entire body emitted steam, and then he was sent flying. Gazeel's eyes rolled back as he lost consciousness, and his steel scales disappeared, revealing his body to be charred, grilled almost, from head to toe.

Levy was horror-struck the moment Gazeel went flying, but she vainly hoped Gazeel would get up and defeat this person. When she realized that Gazeel had truly lost, she turned around and ran. She HAD to warn the others that a terrifyingly powerful monster was loose on these holy grounds. She ran like the wind, like she had run never before in her life.

* * *

Erza and Juvia walked through the dust grounds of Tenroujima, weaving their way to where they had heard a large explosion. Reaching a scarred and destroyed area, they saw two people down on the ground, defeated, by the looks of it. One of them, the one that looked like a chicken, suddenly groaned and sat up.

"Uhaha...Uhahaha...Uhahahahahaha!" he laughed maniacally.

"Who are-," began Juvia, but was cut off by Erza, who raised her hand.

"Grimoire Heart...what are you doing here?" demanded Erza.

"The Seven Kindred of Purgatory will soon be here-Peron. The entire Grimoire Heart guild and its forces are coming, coming for war-Pepe. You've lost...you've truly lost-Peron!" raved Kawazu.

"A war? Grimoire heart wants to have a full-scale war with us?" cried Juvia, sweating.

"What is your objective?" inquired Erza coldly.

"Like I'd cough that up to the likes of you-Peperon," said Kawazu haughtily, but he immediately regretted doing that as Erza hit him HARD on the head, raising a herculean lump on his head.

"Zeref-Peperon," he said, tears of pain lingering on the corner of his eyes, "The legendary black mage Zeref is sealed on this island."

"No way!" cried Juvia, sweating harder than ever.

"This is impossible! Zeref lived hundreds of years ago!" exclaimed Erza

"It's 400 years-Peron," corrected Kawazu, "And he was never dead! He was alive on this very island for 400 years-Peperon."

"You dare endeavor on such a mission on this island protected by fairy?" grinded out Erza.

"I wouldn't underestimate them if I were you-Peperon. Urtear, Meredy, Rustyrose, Capprico-sama—whose men we are-Peron, Kain Hikaru, Zancrow, and...one is already here. Kukuku!" he said, "This is the end, Fairy Tail."

And then he saw no more, as Erza hit him with all her strength, thus knocking him out.

All of a sudden, someone came running and collided with Erza, and then fell down into the earth. Turning around, Erza saw Levy sprawled on the ground. She shook Levy gently, and Levy opened her eyes after a while. She sat up and gasped.

"E...Erza, They...They...Someone defeated Gazeel," cried out Levy, while Erza grinded her teeth in frustration.

"Gazeel-san was defeated?" Juvia said in a disbelieving manner.

"Yes. He is in urgent medical treatment. And we should be caref-"

"Grimoire Hearts. That must be the one of the purgatory kindred who is already here," Erza cut Levy off mid-sentence, and then looked at her, "We know. This is bad."

"That means you defeated..." began Levy, but was cut off again.

"No...These two were defeated already before we came. Maybe by Natsu, by the looks of it. But this bird-man looks like he was rather defeated by Elfman. Well whatever, I could only interrogate them," said Erza.

"Let's go," said Juvia, looking tensely at Erza.

"No, wait," said Erza frowning, "First this..."

Erza fired off a signal, the signal to prepare for battle. The skies above Tenrou Island lit up with the ghastly light, filling the heart of the people in the island with torrents of different emotions.

**And the second chapter is up folks! Hope you liked it...because it was nothing much except the beginning of the war. Hope to see some REAL fights soon :) And thanks to all who reviewed. So then, untill next time. Goodbye!**


	3. Chapter-2: Brush Offs

**CH-2: Brush Offs**

A signal, one that heralded war was set loose upon the holy havens of the strongest guild of light that there is. Yet worse was timing, as the young mages' determination for the future was in a delicate state, and this signal poured cold water on their fiery spirit. Frustration and anger seeped into their minds like water from a burst dam. As for the guild master Makarov, repentance clouded out his other thoughts.

"I'm sorry, master Mavis, to have bought enemies into this very island...into this very soil that you rest in. I take full responsibility for this occurrence. So...please just protect my children and let no harm come to them," Makarov apologized in front of the grave of the founder of Fairy Tail, Mavis Vermillion. The grave exuded an aura of approval and pride, due to it sentience in the form of the residing spirit of the first master. And then Makarov walked out, bearing the anger of a parent whose children are threatened.

* * *

"Mest-san! Look!" chirped a little girl, breaking another man from his stupor. These two were participants who lost in the first round of the trial, Mest and Wendy.

"What is that color for again?" Wendy asked. But Mest immediately broke off to the side, sweating profusely.

"I wanna know! I really wanna know!" he cried. But his mind was pondering something else...

'_Damn. I've come so far! I HAVE to maintain my pretense now'_ thought Mest.

"You don't know what that signal is for?" Wendy said, looking startled. And then suddenly and unexpectedly, a voice cried out to Wendy. A voice Wendy knew too well.

"Get away from him Wendy!" cried Carla, Wendy's close companion and exeed. Along her flew another black exeed, Pantherlily.

"What-" began Mest, but was immediately cut off as Pantherlily cornered him, now towering over Mest in his intimidating full height.

"You...Mest or whoever you are, I must say it was quite a brilliant plan. Using the name of a person who is no longer a part of the guild, a person who was always shrouded by mysteries and doubts, and then probably messing with everyone's memories," growled Pantherlily, while Mest sweated bullets at the accusations, "But do you know that no one remembers ever having a prolonged conversation with you? And you also made a mistake in your setup. The prince would never take a disciple from this world. Why would he, when he intentionally isolated himself? So now, Mest, tell us who you really are."

But Mest was paying only half his attention to Pantherlily. He sensed someone close by and ready to attack. And then, to all the present people's surprise, Mest disappeared from where he was cornered and reappeared behind Wendy.

'_What! Teleportation!'_ thought Pantherlily surprised, whereas Carla turned pale with fear.

"Wendy!" she cried, running towards her, but it was unnecessary.

"Look out!" cried Mest and pushed himself along with Wendy out of the way of an explosion.

'_That somebody saved Wendy?!'_ Carla thought surprised. Pantherlily was surprised too, even though he didn't say anything. Just then a voice rang out.

"Good job on evading that."

Everyone turned towards the direction the voice had come from, and to their astonishment, a figure was slowly emerging from a tree. But Mest had other things to say. Things like the reply to Lily's unanswered question.

"Fairy Tail, Zeref and now Grimoire Heart! Lady luck must be really shining on me," he said, "Haven't you figured out who I am? I am an official of the Magic Council! Now with all these happening, I can finally stop dreaming about my promotion. I am really glad that i had a battleship positioned just in case."

"That battleship?" drawled out the person, now standing parallel to the ground with his feet rooted into the tree, even as a massive explosion claimed the aforementioned battleship. The magnitude and power of the explosion left the non-Grimoire members flustered with their mouth dropping open.

"Now do you mind if I begin my job?" said the person stepping into the ground, revealing that he was none other than Azuma, one of the strongest among the Seven Kin of the Purgatory.

"What...what did you do?" Wendy said.

"The ship exploded in an instant!" said Carla, getting really nervous.

"The council battleship...destroyed so easily!" said Mest shaking in fear. Azuma said nothing but merely stood there, looking down at them. Then Pantherlily lost his patience and charged at Azuma.

**Brevi**

Panntherlily was engulfed in an explosion which caused smoke to shroud him. But the one who could fight on nearly on equal grounds with Gazeel cannot be bought down by a single explosion.

Lily emerged from the smoke and landed a solid punch to Azuma's face.

"Hmph," grunted Azuma, unimpressed by Lily's attack and caused an explosion larger than the last one to engulf Pantherlily. The mere backlash from the explosion caused Wendy, Carla and Mest to be hurled backwards. But Pantherlily still stood with his arms crossed for defence.

'_Ugh. If i only had a sword,'_ thought Pantherlily.

**Arms X Vernier**

Pantherlily's eyes widened as he felt Wendy's amplification magic enhance him.

'_I can make it,'_ thought Lily, more confident now as he charged at Azuma again. Azuma dished out his explosion, but this time Pantherlily dodged it by using his wings to fly into the air.

"Mest-san, I need your help," said Wendy, already formulating a plan.

"What are you saying? I am a member of the council!" cried Mest.

"It doesn't matter. I want to save Fairy Tail!" replied Wendy.

"But I wanted to destroy you for my own promotion!" cried Mest, trying to reason with Wendy.

"But it doesn't matter because we will never be destroyed!" Wendy cried, her voice filled to the brim with confidence and passion.

Meanwhile, Pantherlily was using everything in his disposal to dodge Azuma's explosions.

"Lily! Into the sky!" cried Carla, and Pantherlily immediately complied by flying up into the sky.

"No matter how far you run, my explosions will still reach you," said Azuma. And as he aimed at Pantherlily, Mest silently teleported behind him with Wendy, who charged up a dragon roar. But it was all to be for naught.

"Pathetic," drawled Azuma.

**Tower Burst**

A huge tower of explosion and flame completely engulfed Azuma's foes. The mages of Fairy Tail were completely defeated.

* * *

On aboard the Grimoire Heart airship the atmosphere was tense with the anticipation of war. The master of the dark guild, Hades, sat on his throne, while his disciples, the Seven Kin of Purgatory, stood before him, ready to hurl themselves into the inevitable war that was approaching at the command of their master.

"You look unusually pumped up, Urtear-san," observed Zancrow.

"Of course she is. I view this as a war too," said Capprico.

"Let's go to the Eden known as war!" said Rustyrose dramatically.

"I..I-I-I...I also..." mumbled Kain Hikaru, but was cut off by Meredy's exclamation.

"Ur, look!" she exclaimed.

"Don't call me UR," spat Urtear.

"I am sorry," said Meredy, deflating immediately.

"Hey, don't get so nervous! So what did you see, Meredy?" inquired Zancrow.

"The island's in view," Meredy replied in a depressed voice, "Fairy Island."

Everyone paused after catching glimpses of a giant figure.

"What is that?" Zancrow inquired to no one in particular.

And then suddenly everyone froze as they saw the full figure of the giant that was Makarov.

"A giant..."

"Are you serious?!"

"It's huge"

And among this commotion, Hades smiled as he beheld the giant in front of him.

"Makarov..." said Hades.

"I won't let you go any further," boomed out the voice of Makarov, "Disappear!"

And with that Makarov attacked. His attack demolished the starboard side like it was nothing. Makarov attacked again, but this time the airship dodged the incoming attack by increasing its speed. And then Hades gave his command.

"Magic convergence cannon: Jupiter! FIRE!"

A deadly magic cannon fired upon Makarov, who blocked the attack by bringing up his left arm.

"KAAH!" cried Makarov and kicked the airship with all his might.

"The ship!"

"Is THIS Makarov?!"

"What a monster!"

The airship was crippled, but Hades was not worried.

"Urtear," he gave his unspoken command.

"Yes," she replied.

**Arc Of Time: Restore**

And with that the potentially crippled ship was restored to its former state of glory.

"Capprico, take everyone and leave. I will take care of Makarov," said Hades.

"Understood!" replied Capprico and clapped his hands. Every single person aboard the airship, except Capprico and Hades, disappeared with that. Capprico himself took up a magical glider and flew away from the airship.

"It doesn't matter where you run. By Fairy Tail ordinance I will give you all the count until three," boomed Makarov, charging up one of the three great fairy magics.

"One..."

"A magic that fires upon everyone the user acknowledges as an enemy. The uber magic."

"Two..."

"Fairy Law, is it?"

"Three...your time is up."

**Fairy Law**

But Hades just stood there unfazed.

"Stop it," said Hades and charged up his own dark light.

**Grimoire Law**

"This is different magic. You can't just release it whenever. If neither one of us steps down, however, it will result in the worst possible conclusion," Hades spoke up.

"Th..this can't be..." stuttered Makarov nervously, "Master...Purehito?!"

"It's been a while, boy," was the only verbal reply he got before two magical chains of Hades' making grappled onto him and flung him afar, converting him from his titan form to dwarf form. Makarov skidded to a halt and glared at his former master.

"Why are you in a dark guild?" Makarov asked.

"What is the exterior and what is the interior, Makarov?" Hades spoke, as if lecturing a kid, "The world is full of things that cannot be measured merely by good or evil."

"Good or evil, the Fairy Tail mentality should never change," argued Makarov.

"HAHAHAHA! You really learned how to talk, kid," said Makarov, amusement evident in his voice.

"Don't call me a kid. You are not my family anymore," said Makarov, "But I don't want to fight with you. Will you leave at once?"

"My heart also pains me, if just a little, to think that a day would come when I have to crush Fairy Tail in such a fashion," said Hades, sighing.

"I WILL NOT GIVE YOU MY GUILD!" roared Makarov.

"So you intend to defy me, kid?"

**Amaterasu 28 Formula Seal**

'_What? In an instant...'_thought Makarov, putting up his own barrier.

"Humph", grunted Hades unimpressed and used his magic chains again. Makarov was once again flung away breaking a few trees in the way. Makarov weakly got up, and his eyes widened at the seal enclosing him.

**Maximum Defense Seal: Three Pillar Gods**

**Amaterasu 100 Formula seal**

And then it was over for Makarov.

* * *

Meanwhile, Capprico had reached the island and released an overwhelming number of Grimoire Heart members.

The Fairy tail members were split into 5 groups, the groups consisting of Lucy, Cana, Grey and Loke, Erza and Juvia, Wendy, Pantherlily and Carla, Mirajane and Lisanna, Elfman and Evergreen, Wendy, Pantherlily, Carla, Natsu and Happy.

But on some remote corner of the island, the legendary black mage, Zeref, was gazing at the sky with his eyes tinted with sadness.

"Another war has begun," he whispered sadly.

**Fire Bullet**

A large ball of flame speeded towards Natsu, but he just looked happy, with a devious grin forming in his face.

"I've been waiting for you to do that," he said, and then, to the wannabe dark guild members' astonishment, he ate the incoming jet of flame.

**Fire Dragon's Wing Attack**

The whole place erupted into an explosion, charring earth and human alike.

"Whoa! He's strong!"

"He's the salamander we've been hearing about."

Suddenly the battlefield became silent as a person, laughing maniacally, walked them.

"Ah! Zancrow-san, please take care of that guy! He's strong!" said a random mage.

"Uhehehe! Of course! You guys go, find Zeref," replied Zancrow. But then his grin faded into a omnious scowl.

"Wait a damned minute! Whom did you call 'strong'?" he growled.

"Uh...n..no one! There is no guild stronger than ours!" the weakling mages replied.

"What I am saying is that ours is the strongest guild," said Zancrow, coating his hands with a strange black flame.

"We don't need weaklings like you!"

And they went up in flames.

"Black flames?"

"What is he?"

"Hey you," Natsu called out, "Weren't they your nakama?"

Natsu was angry. This guy had the galls to kill his own nakama. But he was suppressing it, waiting to release it all in one explosive attack. But Zancrow was not going to give him the chance.

"UHAAH!" Zancrow bellowed and shot forward a torrent of flames.

"Flames don't work on me!" Natsu said and was about to eat the flames until...

"Natsu-san! Don't! Those flames are giving me a bad feeling!" cried Wendy, and Natsu froze with his mouth open.

As soon as the flames engulfed Natsu, he cried out in pain.

'_What are these flames? I can't eat them,'_ thought Natsu putting as much distance as he could between himself and Zancrow.

"You are too cocky, wannabe dragon slayer," Zancrow said and unleashed a rather massive amount of flames upon Natsu.

"Uhehehe! You try to eat the 'god' flames that exists even above dragon flames and you get divine punishment, kid!" Zancrow said, "My powers are on a completely different level than your's. I am a god killer, a Godslayer."

* * *

Lucy, Cana , Loke and Gray were standing back to back, ready to bear the onslaught head on. But suddenly to all of their surprise, a clap echoed out and all the enemies disappeared. Or so they thought.

"First they appear out of nowhere, and then they disappear. Quite busy guys, aren't they?" said Cana to her comrades.

"They don't have what it takes to defeat you. It would be just a waste of time," a voice rang out everyone turned towards where they heard the voice and saw a goat-man standing there.

"I will be your opponent," declared the goat man, or Capprico, while Loke's face was lit up with recognition and surprise.

* * *

"I have met with the enemy during the mission. I will begin extermination immediately. Their annihilation has been changed to the prime directive. Now starting battle," Meredy droned out, while Erza and Juvia could only stare at her.

"A kid?" Juvia said quizzically.

"Don't underestimate her, I can feel some weird magic radiating from her," replied Erza.

* * *

"The Fairies and Demons met in a lonely forest. This shall be our battleground," said Rustyrose poetically. But Elfman was not interested.

'Is he a man or a fruit?' he thought, but all he spoke up was, "What is he?"

"Isn't it obvious? He's an idiot," replied Evergreen.

* * *

**Clutch**

And the remaining people fell at Robin's feet, probably never to get up again.

"Now, miss, will you kindly tell me where am I?" asked Robin, but Mirajane was not listening. Everything about this woman was shouting 'DANGEROUS'.

"Who are you?" asked Mira.

"Ufufufu! Am I not supposed to get an answer?" said Robin in her calm and collected way of speaking, but this only made Marajane warier than ever.

"Back off, I am warning you!" thundered Mirajane, convinced that she was an enemy.

"Ok!" said Robin, backing off and crossing her arms.

Suddenly arms sprouted out of Lisanna's body and held her.

"Mira-neesan!" she screamed out in fear, thinking that she had suddenly sprouted arms that she couldn't control.

"It's your work isn't it? Undo it immediately," said Mirajane coldly.

"And what if I refuse?" inquired Robin with a slight smile on her face.

"I SAID RELEASE HER!" roared Mirajane as she changed into her she-devil form.

* * *

Hades had landed on the island and stuck the Grimoire heart flag on its soil, asserting his claim over fairy island.

"Makarov's brats have no chance to defeat the Seven Kin of Purgatory," he bragged to himself, "They are my great mages whom I have spent years training. They all use the magic closest to the source of all magic. Lost magic is at their disposal, and nothing can stand in the way of the forbidden arts."

But little did he knew that it was not just fairies and demons that roamed untamed around the island, but also the sailors of the waters both worst and magnificent.

* * *

"UOHHHHH!" cried Natsu as he and Zancrow clashed.

"Is this how strong dragon slayers are?" said Zancrow sarcastically as he dodged a series of attacks one after another.

"Shut up!" cried Natsu as he cocked back his fist, "God slayer my ass. You say god taught you that?"

"Since Master Hades could probably be called a god..." Zancrow replied as he blocked a flaming kick from Natsu.

"HAH! So you just learnt it from a 'human'! I learned my magic from a real Dragon. Dragon Slayer Magic." Natsu said triumphantly, even as he coated both of his hands in a copious amount of flames.

**Fire Dragon's...**

**Fire God's...**

And then they snapped.

**Brilliant Flame**

**Kagutsuchi**

The two fire mages were enveloped by their respective flames that clashed with one another.

"UOOOOOH!"

"UHEHEHE!"

And then Natsu's attack was overwhelmed.

"Guaah!" Natsu cried out in pain and was pushed back.

"Natsu was pushed back? By another person's flames?" Happy said in disbelief.

"You are annoying me! Damn cats!" roared Zancrow and attacked them, burning the exeeds.

"You jerk!" Natsu cried and leapt atop a boulder.

**Fire Dragon's Roar**

The unbelievable amount of flames sped towards Zancrow. But he stood his ground.

"Do you know that it was gods who gave humans the knowledge of fire. It was neither humans nor dragons who created fire. It was god!" Zancrow said and started eating Natsu's flames.

"Ehh...? T...that can't be..." Natsu said as he watched his adversary eating his flames.

"Those were some tasty flames!"said Zancrow, "They were wild ones that will never die out. But even if you possess the strength to kill a dragon, you can never kill a god! This is Grimoire Heart's magic!"

**Fire God's Bellow**

"GAAHH!" cried Natsu as the gigantic amount of flame collided with him and sent him flying.

"NATSUUUU!" cried the beaten down Happy.

A few feet away, Natsu groaned as he stood up.

"That bastard," he growled. And then he stopped, as his nose caught the smell of someone familiar. He went near the fallen body and whispered in disbelief.

"Grandpa?"

And then he lost his cool and started panicking.

"Are you kidding me? Hey Grandpa are you all right?" he said.

"Natsu! *cough*cough*" was the only reply he got.

"Grandpa dammit! Your wounds look horrible! Wait, I'll take you to Wendy. Or are you too bad to move now?" Natsu cried desperately, "This looks bad! I can't believe it! Who did this?"

"Natsu, listen carefully. We have no hopes of winning this," said Makarov.

"Grandpa, what are you saying? Who gave you those wounds? There is nothing to worry about. I will not lose next time!" replied Natsu.

"Please Natsu...take everyone and run away!" Makarov pleaded.

"How can you say that? What will happen to the s-class exam? You are the master of Fairy Tail. Don't say we can't win!" argued Natsu.

"There are times when one must step down..." replied Makarov. At this Natsu was speechless.

"Uhehe!" the annoying laughter of Zancrow reached the other two's ears.

"Uhehe! You got whupped by Hades didn't you! Didnt'cha Makarov?"

"What?" roared Natsu outraged. But it was visible that he was shaking.

'_Fear!? Natsu, of all people?!'_ pondered Makarov.

"Hey! What's wrong? There is sweat rolling down in your whole body," mocked Zancrow.

"This is...fear?" Natsu asked to himself.

"UHAHAHA! Yes, this is fear! When faced by an absolute being right before their eyes, people fear, shudder and can do nothing but freeze in fear!" said Zancrow and advanced towards Natsu.

"This is fear, but not the fear Gildarts was talking about," said Natsu, flames leaping up in his body.

"This fear comes from my fear that this Hades who did this to Grandpa will be defeated by someone other than me!" said Natsu.

"I will make it so that you cannot even joke about that!" said Zancrow, butting heads with Natsu.

"God flames do not burn, you know," said Zancrow as he dodged an attack by Natsu.

"THEY ARE FLARE HALBERDS OF DESTRUCTION!" roared Zancrow and used his flames to accidentally slice trees into two as he missed Natsu.

Natsu dodged each attempt by Zancrow to destroy him by dodging. He leapt from tree to tree and scored an attack on Zancrow with a tree trunk, which Zancrow split apart using his flames.

"You have special flames, which means I just have to eat them specially," said Natsu as he dodged a torrent of flame that destroyed a boulder.

And then he tried to eat Zancrow's flames, only to have disastrous results.

"DAAH!" he cried, "Damn, this is the first time I've felt that a flame is too hot."

And then Natsu took on the offensive, attacking Zancrow with a barrage of punches, all of which were blocked.

"I will destroy your master," cried Natsu and kicked Zancrow hard on his face. Zancrow skidded away, but he glared murderously at Natsu.

"You know, gods love to eat," said Zancrow, skidding to a halt.

**Fire God's Supper**

Natsu was engulfed in the black flames, and he cried out in pain, but he endured it and coated himself with his own flames within Zancrow's black flames.

"ARRGH!" cried Zancrow in pain as Makarov crushed him in his enlarged arm.

"Where do you go, trying to hurt one's own child in front of the parent?" said Makarov. And then black flames bloomed in Makarov's hand, burning it.

"Let go, foolish old man, or you will get burnt!" threatened Zancrow, but he instead felt the grip tightening.

"Okay, lets see who goes down first. Makarov, the salamander on little ol' me," said Zancrow confidently.

"Oh and the salamander is down already!" he cried as Natsu's flames died down inside Zancrow's flames. But suddenly, to Zancrow's astonishment, Natsu began to eat the black flames

"Wh..what? N..no!" cried Zancrow as his flames were eaten.

"So there do exists flames that has to be specially eaten," said Natsu.

'_Hmm. Exhausting your own magic to create a vessel to hold other's magic isn't a typical strategy. Natsu...'_ thought Makarov.

And even as Zancrow began to edge away, Natsu coated one hand in black flames and the other in his own flame.

"The flame of Fire Dragon and the flame of Fire god equals..." said Natsu.

**Dragon God's Brilliant Flame**

Zancrow was swept away in the fury of heat and flames that followed.

* * *

Lucy and Cana landed hard against a wall, as if flung away by something. Or rather someone.

"Gah!" cried Loke as he and Grey were kicked hard upon their shins by Capprico.

'_This guy, he's taking on all 4 of us. So strong..._' thought Grey, even as Capprico stood ready to take them all.

* * *

Mirajane kicked Robin, and she disappeared in a puff of petals.

'_Damn, I don't have much magic left,'_ thought Mirajane, as she took into the skies. She spotted Robin crossing her arms behind a tree, and immediately felt two hands grab her wings.

**Hold**

Mirajane landed in the ground hard, but she got up immediately after.

**Quarenta Fleur: Cuatro Mano-Thrush**

Four gigantic hands hit Mirajane all over her body with open palms, forcing her away and sending her skidding.

'_I'm out of options. Even wings are out of action. If i could only hit her...but she disappears into a puff of flower as soon as I hit him,' _thought Mirajane.

**Quarenta Fleur: Cuatro Mano-Spank**

Four big hands sprouted over Mirajane's body and hit her, breaking many a random bones of Mirajane's body. She coughed out blood and grimaced.

"Mira-neesan!" Lisanna cried out in fear.

"ORRAAGH!" Mirajane cried as she leapt forward and delivered a knee to Robin's guts, and Robin disappeared immediately after. But Mirajane was not done. She fired a huge blast of energy, but Robin reacted quickly.

**Mille Fleur: Gigantesque Mano**

The energy blast went off in the gigantic palms of Robin's making a huge explosion.

"Aargh!" she cried in pain as the giant hands disappeared immediately after the attack was held off.

**Seis Fleur: Clutch**

"YAARGH!" cried out Mirajane in immense pain as her back was broken. She shifted back to her human form and immediately fell into the ground.

"For..give m..me Lisanna..." she whispered and then fell unconscious.

"MIRA-NEESAN!" cried out Lisanna and then glared at Robin murderously, "YOU..."

**Flip**

Robin didn't even look back as she hit Lisanna in the guts. She merely winced and held her hand and looked back, only to see Lisanna holding her gut and sobbing, while crawling towards Mirajane.

"Her back will heal, but I don't think she will walk again," said Robin, taking sympathy in the little girl, "But if you give her proper treatment before her spine mends, she should even be able to fight and protect you in time."

Robin then walked away, leaving the girl to desperately hope for a doctor.

* * *

"I've waited for so long! And it never seemed to come!" said Urtear wandering all by herself, "But now after finding Zeref, I will be finally saved."

Suddenly she heard a rustle behind her and whirled around.

"Who's there?"

"Looking for me?"

She froze after hearing that voice.

"I see, so you people are the apple of discord here," said Zeref, "Nonetheless, I must ask you, what do you want?"

"Your very existence, my lord," said Urtear, kneeling before Zeref.

"I have no intentions of doing anything in this era," said Zeref, "And it's sad how you've managed to anger me!"

And Urtear started sweating. She started sweating and shaking so hard in fear that she didn't know what to do.

* * *

"Kyaah!" cried Evergreen, as a beast punched down on where she was just a moment ago.

"Why don't you petrify it?" growled Elfman as he blocked an attack.

"I can't petrify something that is not a human!" cried Evergreen as she dodged another attack.

"No, I mean him!" cried Elfman pointing at Rustyrose and dodging an attack.

"He's wearing glasses! So I can't Petrify him!"

"You're useless, you know!" growled Elfman.

"Wanna get petrified first?" retorted Evergreen.

"When those in love disagree..." began Rustyrose but was interrupted by Elfman and Evergreen.

"WE ARE NOT IN LOVE!" they cried in unison.

"By the way what is that monster?" inquired Elfman.

"You're one to talk," retorted Evergreen grimacing.

"It's my guardian beast, Beluscus the Thunderclap," replied Rustyrose.

"He has two names?" Elfman cried, surprised, even as he dodged an attack by the beast.

**Fairy Machine Gun: Leprechaun**

Evergreen's attack did little more than raise smoke on the beast's body. And as the beast was about to crush her, Elfman in his full beast form blocked its attack.

"Stop that thing," Evergreen cried handing over the beast to Elfman as she herself went after Rustyrose.

'_He uses summon magic, and the weakness of summon magicians is obvious. They themselves are weak,'_she thought, trying to attack Rustyrose's flank.

"I am the king of underworld. This arm cuts through everything with a deep black blade," recited Rustyrose.

**Jet-Black Sword**

"Disappear to the edge of darkness," he said and cut Evergreen with his mutated arm.

"Evergreen!" Elfman cried, in his worry forgetting about his own opponent. The beast delivered a devastating blow to him, and he was down on the ground.

"What magic is this?!" cried Elfman, reaching his wit's end.

"Telling that to trash will only cause confusion," replied Rustyrose.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" shouted Elfman, really angry this time.

"When we acquire Zeref this tragedy will end and a new age will come about," said Rustyrose, creating a portrait of Zeref.

'_That guy...is Zeref? Wait, more importantly, Zeref is on this island?'_thought Evergreen.

"The ultimate magic world. The true world of magic where chaos and darkness rules," said Rustyrose, "Those who cannot use magic cannot live. No, even if they do, there will be only hell for them. Doesn't it sound wonderful? A world only for us. The trash who cannot use magic cannot survive. When Zeref becomes the king of this world, the ultimate magic world will be complete. Those without magic will be annihilated. It will be a paradise only for mages. I've been waiting for this time to come! Forever waiting!"

"Impossible!" declared Elfman.

"There's no way something like this is possible!" said Evergreen.

"Erase those without magic and create a world for mages only? Fuck that!" said Elfman, slowly getting up from the ground, "Mages make up only 10% of the world. The other 90% can't use magic at all!"

"Yes! And that 90% won't be allowed to live in the ultimate world of magic," replied Rustyrose.

"You think we would let you do something like that?" growled Elfman.

"But are they really necessary? People who cannot use magic are the same as candles that cannot burn," reasoned Rustyrose.

"IT'S BECAUSE PEOPLE SUPPORT EACH OTHER THAT THIS WORLD EXISTS!" roared Elfman, now thoroughly angry and fully standing.

"People support each other? Are you talking about your guild? That's your ego talking. All you are really doing is devouring riches from the weak," argued Rustyrose.

"No, we need to support each other. We mages give them power, and the commoners give us a reward," said Elfman, walking towards Rustyrose, "That accumulation of trust is how this world works. That is how guilds are born. DON'T LAUGH AT MY GUILD! AND DON'T YOU DARE DISGRACE US MAGES WHO ARE STRUGGLING DESPERATELY TO SURVIVE!"

"To be honest, I can't understand you people," said Rustyrose, "You can't get near the abyss of magic. You don't know the true horror of Zeref. When you see Zeref's true power, all you'll be able to do is cower in fear!"

"Fairy Tail will never yield. Because we are giant candles who shine light upon any kind of darkness!" roared Elfman and charged at Rustyrose.

"Despite your name, you Fairy Tail people aren't in the least bit elegant!" replied Rustyrose and prepared his magic. He halted Elfman mid-charge with his arm whilst drawing blood and roared.

"Trash like you won't be needed in the ultimate magic world either!"

"I'm fine being trash!" replied Elfman while recovering from Rustyrose's attack, "But I won't allow you to call my allies trash! As a man I cannot allow it!"

The jet-black sword shot forward, but this time Elfman grabbed it with both his arms.

"The foundation of take-over is knowing your opponents, right sis?" Elfman recalled, "This 'arm' is mine now!"

Elfman's right arm changed into a similar copy of his opponent's, which he bought down upon Rustyrose.

"That which dwells within my right arm is a golden shield which pushes everything back!" chanted Rustyrose as a shield took form from his right arm.

"How naïve. Things aren't that simple..." Rustyrose's words died at his throat as he saw his spectacles in Elfman's arm.

"My real target were your glasses!" said Elfman and crushed them, "Ever, now!"

"Only Laxus of Raijinshuu is allowed to shorten my name to 'Ever', but this time i will make an exception," said Evergreen, "I can petrify the mouths of those who insult Fairy Tail, you know!"

**Stone Eyes**

"AAHHH!"

"Just kidding!" said Rustyrose, smirking. And then he smacked down Elfman hard with his jet-black sword and sent Evergreen flying.

"Glasses...how?!" said Evergreen in amazement.

"My magic is imagination. Arc of embodiment. I can materialise whatever I want," explained Rustyrose, gloating, "It is an unbeatable magic. It has never been bested in my entire life!"

"Come to me, Tower of Dingir! Crush these foolish fairies with all your sadness and send them back to the earth!" chanted Rustyrose.

"What's this! I can't move!" cried Elfman being swept up in the magic.

"Ever, hang in there!" he cried.

"I'm sorry!" she said, weeping, "If I were not your partner, you would have been an S-Class mage by now. And you might have not been defeated by this guy."

"You idiot! It's because of you that I've been able to come this far!" Elfman replied tenderly.

"Elfman!" she cried.

"Thank you, Ever!" said Elfman.

"Scatter, to the depths of darkness!"

* * *

Urtear stood panting in front of a fallen Zeref.

"You may be the legendary black mage," she said, "But in your 'sleeping state' you're nothing. Don't underestimate the eldest of the seven kin of purgatory!"

"S...stop!" mumbled Zeref.

"It's fine, lord Zeref. We have the 'key' that will wake you up!" Urtear said, "I have him! Kukuku! I HAVE ZEREF!"

* * *

"Ughhh! Where am I!" groaned Ussopp, getting up. He sat up and observed his surrounding. Everything seemed fine, until he heard a crash on his opposite side. Whirling around and ducking, he observed as two people fought each other.

"What the hell, a goat?! What a weird zoan devil fruit!" he muttered to himself. He kept watching the battle between the two beings fold out.

"Should I help the light guy? No, maybe I should learn more since some people keep popping up of nowhere. But how to learn more? I am a sniper, sniping is my job. I am at a disadvantage in a close combat," he argued with himself, "And man, they are strong. Best help out the one of the guys, possibly the losing one. But...what if I help the wrong person? What if I help the bad guy defeat the good one? But what if the bad guy goes away, and I keep watching? How can I let a possible enemy go? I am a Mugiwara pirate, and a brave warrior of the seas. A warrior never lets his enemy get away. Well, as of now my best option is to watch the fight."

So Ussopp watched. He watched as the goat seemingly bought people out of nowhere to attack the shaggy guy. And he watched as the shaggy guy used a weird light power to dispel the people. And as he watched the fight unfold, fingering his slingshot all the while, he came to a decision.

"Hmm. I know what I will do," Ussopp declared to himself, "I will take both of them down. They won't be able to hold any grudges against an enemy that they didn't see! And I am best at sniping anyway, so no chances of the enemy getting away! Good guy, please forgive me!"

With that Ussopp put on his sniping goggles. Still unable to figure out the bad guy, Ussopp couldn't help but feel guilt. But being guilt didn't help the man from Syrup village become who he was. He had always followed his decision through, whether he was wrong or he was right, because if he didn't, then who would care about a weakling like he was earlier. He would be trampled down by the monsters. But Ussopp had always made his own space among the monsters, and even if it was among weak ones, it was still something! Also if he was wrong, he could always apologise later!

And with his decision made, he drew upon his slingshot, waiting to fire at the best moment. And when it came...

**Hissatsu****Midoriboshi: Skull Exploding Grass**

The pellet that he fired sped faster than a bullet and crashed between the two fighters. Ussopp, looking through his sniping goggles, could clearly discern the two people's shock just before the enormous explosion engulfed the two, creating a cloud of smoke in the form of a skull in its aftermath, a clear beacon of the danger of a pirate to anyone who was watching.

* * *

Kain Hikaru wandered in search of some fairies to beat the crap out of, but was having a success rate of zero while doing it.

"W..why is th..t..there n..no one?" he asked to himself. But then to his surprise and fear a voice rang out.

"Who are you searching for?"

"UAAH! W..where are y..you? I a..am not a..afraid! Co..come out!" said Hikaru while obviously being nervous at the disembodied voice.

"No need to lie. You are obviously afraid, and I know it. Also you are so stupid that you hadn't even known I was following you," said the disembodied voice, the voice clearly belonging to a female.

**Mirage Dissolved**

"Here I am!" shouted Nami akin to how a person would say 'boo', and surprisingly (or not), it worked.

"AAHHHH!" screamed Hikaru girlishly. And then he became angry.

"You'll pay for scaring me! I will show you how scary I can be!" roared Hikaru. But Nami was not intimidated.

"Yeah, yeah!" she said, "Now would you kindly tell me where I am."

"Don't you act ignorant! I will destroy you! DODOSUKO!" with that Hikaru attacked,using his palm strike at Nami. She blocked the attack with her staff, but to her surprise, she went skidding back uncontrollably.

'_Hmm, he's tougher than he looks. I meant to redirect his attack to the side, but that evidently didn't work,'_thought Nami. And then she saw a thing. He was holding a doll made out of steel that contained what she presumed was his hair.

"What's with that doll?" Nami asked, knowing he would give it away since he was an idiot.

"That's my magic, Ushi no Koku Mairi. It works by putting a hair to control people. And I can change the doll's constitution to affect my powers. Like how it is made out of steel now to attack you more effectively. Here, try this out," said Hikaru.

Nami took the doll and gave the doll a massive beating, with Hikaru receiving the same massive beating.

"Give it back, devil woman! I will show you that I can be as merciless as you! Maybe even more!" roared Hikaru, snatching away the doll.

"Steel, huh!" said Nami already formulating a plan.

**Gust Sword**

Nami released the jet of pressurized wind that she had been charging. But Hikaru anticipated it and crossed his arms. He was pushed back but otherwise remained unhurt.

"Hah! Wind doesn't work against Steel. Don't you know that, you stupid girl?" roared Hikaru, sure that he would defeat this stupid girl. Nami didn't reply but instead turned her back to him.

"Don't ignore me, you bitch!" cried Hikaru, his face darkening in anger.

"You're truly an idiot if you haven't noticed anything yet," said Nami without even looking back.

"Huh!" said Hikaru, looking around. Only now did he notice the black little balls floating around.

"What are..." said Hikaru, but didn't even get to continue.

**Lightning Tempo**

And Hikaru was down, his body smoking because of the amplified effects due to the effect of lightning on the steel doll.

"Some idiots never learn. He went as far as to call his devil fruit 'magic'," said Nami, sighing and continued walking. All she needed to do was find the sea, and then she could find the Sunny.

* * *

"Fuhahaha! This is fantastic!" cried Hades.

"You're quite in the good mood, old man," remarked a man from the shadows.

"They've already taken care of three of the seven kin! They are really something, Makarov's kids."

"When am I going out?" said the person visibly annoyed.

"This isn't the kind of battle you need to take part in, Bluenote!" said Hades really serious now.

"I want to play a little more. It's not good to let the body get lazy," said Bluenote, placing a hand on a desk. Everything started rumbling ,and the whole airship sunk down, along with the ground.

"Is this fine?" asked Hades.

"If we keep the ship submerged, they won't be able to find us, right?" replied Bluenote.

"Actually I want to gather Makarov's kids here. They won't even know that they are at the mouth of the devil," said Hades.

"If it were me, I would go on a feeding frenzy!" said Bluenote.

"You will stay here," ordered Hades.

"One more of your brat goes down, and I am going out," said Bluenote.

"I am going to fly today!"

**And that's the third chappy, packed with action. Hope you liked it :) And in response to reviews...**

**xxxSojournerOfTruthxxx: glad to be of service ;)**

**Luffy: you'll have to wait and see**

**BossToad: i've corrected it, and thanks for pointing out. I really appreciate it.**

**Lightningblade49: *spoiler alert* if you think so, then i'll have to disappoint you...while something like it will happen, it's just not happening on this arc.**

**And so, till next time, Dhanyabad!**


	4. Chapter-3: A Few Clashes

**CH-3: A Few Clashes**

The war on the holy island of the fairies was escalating further, sowing the seeds of chaos in its wake. The fairies and the demons fought, and the sea-devils were caught up in the battle. But ironically, it was the nether the Grimoire Heart mages nor the Fairy Tail mages who were passing through the battle without a single loss, but rather it was the Straw Hat pirates who accomplished this feat. But it certainly didn't mean that everything was going fine with the seafarers. Some confusions certainly would have to be cleared up by the pirates, or they else would have to face the storm and declare war on a second world. And indeed, it mattered not to them which of the two they chose; but it mattered a lot to the guardians of balance in this world. It could be blatantly stated that destruction or preservation were the two diverging paths that awaited this world, and the path taken up by the world depended on the choice of one man. Monkey D Luffy.

* * *

Gray was wandering around in the forest in search of any enemy that would come face to face with him. Recently he had left Loke to have his fight and split away from Lucy and Cana, after learning that Loke had lost his fight but was safe in the spirit world. But suddenly he heard a rustle near him.

'_Who is it?' _Gray thought, ducking behind a tree, and then peaking around it. He did it because he was wary and not because he was afraid to meet the person. But it was of no consequence whether he hid out of caution or out of fear, as the face of his to-be opponent left him stupefied.

'_Ur!?' _thought Gray frozen to the spot. But his racing mind would not let him believe that this dark mage was his teacher. And as such he came to a feasible conclusion.

'_No, that person is a Grimoire Heart member, an enemy. She just happens to look like Ur. Who the heck is she?!'_

* * *

"Kyaah!"

Juvia went flying and hit the ground hard, a pool of water forming in where she fell.

"Juvia!" Erza's concern for her comrade caused her to cry out.

"You'll be thirteenth," Meredy said to Juvia, even as she prepared her maguility swords.

"Juvia, step down. I'll take care of her," said Erza as she ex-quipped from her current armor and equipped into her heaven's wheel armor.

"Erza Scarlet. You'll be fourth," said Meredy as she sent her maguility swords flying at Erza.

"What is it that you are ranking?" Erza inquired as she batted away the swords.

"It's the ranking of the order that I've decided to kill you in," replied Meredy. She waved her hand sent off another wave of swords.

"Ridiculous!" growled Erza, charging toward Meredy and the swords.

"This is important," said Meredy and waved her hands once more. The swords changed direction at once and flew towards Juvia, who was just about to get up.

"ARRGH!" cried out Juvia, being battered into the ground brutally.

"Hang on Juvia!" cried Erza, "Why are you after Juvia?"

"Thirteenth is just trash. I'll take care of it quickly,' Meredy said in reply. Erza said nothing in reply but slashed at Meredy, which Meredy deflected using her swords.

"In the third position is Gildarts," said Meredy, creating swords of maguility in a flash, "But he is not on this island anymore."

"Makarov is in second position," said Meredy and launched her swords. Erza parried the shots and kept her face straight, but it mask the fact that she was surprised.

"Master is in the second place?"

"Yes, I have placed someone far above him," said Meredy.

"First place is Gray, Grey Fullbuster!"

But unknown to Erza and Meredy, this comment worked up a frenzy in Juvia, and she got up ignoring her pains, a dark and strong aura emanating from her.

"What! Why Gray?" questioned Erza, now getting really confused.

"The man who killed Urtear's mother, the man who hurt Urtear," Meredy began raving with a monstrous expression on her childish face, "I'LL NEVER FORGIVE HIM. I'M GOING TO TEAR HIM APART!"

Erza was so carried away by Meredy's words that she didn't notice the swords surrounding her until it was too late.

"Oh no!" Erza exclaimed.

But to both Meredy and Erza's shock, a huge wave of water knocked away all the swords that were surrounding Erza. And there stood Juvia amidst a large pool of water, even as the skies began to pour.

"Can't forgive? That's my line," said Juvia with a demonic expression on her face, "Whose life did you say you were after?"

"H..hey...calm down..." Erza stammered, getting nervous even though she was not Juvia's enemy.

"Hey, what's with her? She is only the thirteenth," said Meredy, still not quite understanding the gravity of what was occurring.

"This woman is after Gray-sama for her irrational needs. How could I possibly calm down?" said Juvia, advancing towards Meredy, "THERE'S NO WAY I'LL FORGIVE HER!"

**Water Nebra**

A wave of water akin to a tidal wave upon the sea crashed with Meredy before she could even react.

"Gaah!" Meredy cried, the pain of the wave smashing her being more than she bargained for. She got up almost immediately, but her eyes were wide open in shock, surprise and disbelief.

'_She's like a completely different person than I fought during the test,' _thought Erza as she watched Juvia pummel Meredy with her water, _'She's getting her strength from her strong feelings towards a loved one'_

'_That is Juvia's true power,'_ Erza came to her conclusion, even as Juvia sent her water spearing at Meredy, blasting her away.

"Erza-san, please leave her to me," said Juvia, breaking Erza's train of thought, "You need to hurry and find Wendy, and Grey-sama too."

"Okay then, I leave her to you," Erza acknowledged and took off in a random direction.

"Four will not escape!" declared Meredy and formed her maguility swords. But before she could fire them, she was sandwiched between two waves, courtesy of Juvia's magic.

"Damn," Meredy cursed and attacked Juvia.

**Maguility = Ray**

**Water Slicer**

The attack however was intercepted and canceled out by Juvia's own attack. And when both of their line of sights cleared, they glared at each other ferociously, neither showing any signs of backing down.

"Mysterious, isn't it?" said Meredy after a long and hostile silence, "Over this one person, Grey...one person can hate him, while another could love him! Even with just one person there can be different ways to see and feel about them."

"It's the mark of being an individual. That's what it means to be a human," replied Juvia.

"I've got good luck, to have killing Gray as my objective, and then to meet someone who has such strong feelings about him," said Meredy, leaving Juvia confused.

"What are you talking about?" asked Juvia.

"Your feelings about Gray will be 'I will kill grey'. Juvia, I am going to show you a touch of heaven and boundless despair," declared Meredy, "Let's see what feelings arise when you see the form of your beloved..."

Juvia's heart jumped to her heart as she heard Meredy call Grey her beloved.

'_Gray-sama?!' _thought Juvia, her face heating up in a blush and heart thumping faster.

"This is it!" exclaimed Meredy and used her magic.

**Sensory Link-Lost Magic: Maguility = Sense**

"KYAAAAAHHH!" cried Juvia, her body lightly charred and smoking from the aftereffects of Meredy's magic. And then from her hand a magical ray flew high through the Tenrou Island and latched into the left hand of Gray, who was at the moment tailing Urtear. Juvia raised her hand and looked at it to see where the pain originated from, and saw a glowing magic sigil etched into her hand.

"What have you done?" inquired Juvia.

"I have made Juvia and Grey's senses as one. If the targets of this magic don't have strong feelings, then they won't connect,"said Meredy.

"JU..JUVIA AND GREY-SAMA ARE ONE?!" cried Juvia her face flushed to the point that it was emitting steam.

"Yes, their senses," said Meredy, who was really put off by Juvia's reasoning.

"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod..." Juvia chanted, covering her face and connecting the thoughts such lewdly as she only could. But then her mood took a swing.

"Its like heaven, to be one with gray sama. Now I can die happily," said Juvia, swinging about happily.

"Yes, but..." said Meredy, attacking Juvia, "This magic will share your pain as well!"

The attack sliced Juvia on her arms, which she had crossed for her defense And Meredy looked upon Juvia, hoping to break Juvia's will.

"All the damage you take will be felt by Gray!"

But it didn't quite generate the results that she expected, and Juvia again turned deadly serious and dangerous.

"How dare you?" said Juvia, "You're trying to hurt Gray-sama?"

And without any further ado, Juvia attacked Meredy, pounding her brutally into the ground.

'_Impossible! Her magic power is still growing?' _Meredy thought, _'Could her feelings turning into magical power really make her this strong? Then I shall show here the power of feelings too.'_

**Three Spread Sensory Link**

At this a sigil formed on Meredy's hand and connected itself to the sigil that connected Juvia to Gray, thus effectively making it a three-way connection. But Juvia was not to be stopped.

"Sraaaahhh!" she roared as she rushed at Meredy, who just waited in anticipation. And then the waves hit Meredy hard in her guts, sending her crashing into a concrete construct. But then the sigils glowed as the magic in them got to work, and the same excruciating pain that Meredy had suffered only moments earlier wrecked havoc on Juvia's gut.

"I've put my life on the line for the sake of Urtear," said Meredy, rising from the ground slowly and painfully, "I've attached myself to your connection. As of now...three of us, you, Gray and me, our senses are connected. Now it doesn't matter which one of us dies, grey will die too. This is Dead End Despair...an end to Gray's life."

"This can't be..." whispered Juvia.

"But that also means..." began Juvia, but was cut off by Meredy.

"That's right! This is my conviction. This is end. For the three of us, there is only death," Meredy said, forming two blades near her neck, "Now that Gray and I are connected, there is no longer any need to fight with anyone. I can just kill myself."

"No, stop it!" cried Juvia utterly aghast knowing the consequences.

"I do not fear death," said Meredy sweating heavily. But Juvia was determined not to let any of this happen.

'_Forgive me Gray-sama,' _Juvia cast an apologizing thought for Gray as she prepared for the pain to come.

"NGAAAAHHH!" the twin screams echoed through the woods as Juvia cut deep into her own leg and sank into the water filled ground, and Meredy followed suit, thus getting saved from the blades that scissors away through the space which Meredy's neck occupied just moments ago. Tears leaked out of Juvia's eyes and she bit her tongue to keep herself from screaming out loud.

"Your own leg...!" said Meredy, "No! But you cannot keep up like this. Even though the Maguility = Sense shares the feeling of pain, it cannot share the physical wound itself. But this magic has a special trait, it can share death. Everyone under the effects of this magic have their lives linked together. So how do you expect to fight me? The only thing left for the three of us is to die!"

"No, there's another option. We can all live!" Juvia cried fiercely while getting up, "Although we may defeat enemies, the mages of Fairy Tail would never take their life!"

"How incredibly childish! I'm going to kill Grey for the sake of Urtear!" Meredy roared, while forming an execution dagger.

"As if I'd let you!" replied Juvia, rushing at Meredy as fast as she could.

'_I am...I am...' _Meredy thought as her mind lapsed back to the past when she was saved by Urtear and the time when declared Urtear as her mother, even as she steeled herself for the end of her life. But it never came. She felt someone hug her tight, standing between the blade and herself, and she involuntarily opened her eyes. She saw Juvia hugging her tight and sobbing her heart out, and she unwittingly dismissed her blade.

"Even you smile! Even you have someone important to you! Live!" said Juvia grabbing Meredy's shoulders, with her tears spilling out of her eyes like a cascade, "I live for the ones that I love! You've got to too! If you have love in your life, you must go on living!"

'_Love...' _thought Meredy, and Juvia nodded, _'Live...'_

And then Meredy teared up, the flow of emotion from Juvia being too much for her to resist, _'Tears of love and life...these emotions...'_

Meredy collapsed, the inflow of emotions and her mortal fear leaving her spent.

"I can't fight with you..." Meredy spoke up while hitting the ground.

"I won't run away with or hide Gray-sama," Juvia assured her.

And the battle between Juvia and Meredy was over.

* * *

'_Those seemingly shared sensations have vanished. The symbol on my arm too...Tears?! Shit, what's going on?' _Gray pondered, but he had to cut his musings short as he felt someone standing behind him.

'_Crap!' _he thought. But his opponent was seemingly in a good mood.

"Were you following me?" Urtear said smiling.

"You are..." Gray asked, but Urtear cut his question off.

"You surely must have noticed by now," said Urtear, "I am your teacher Ur's daughter, Urtear!"

'_She is...Ur's daughter? She's been secretly involved with Jellal's group and with the council...and she's also a Grimoire Heart member. I see...so she's got some grudge against me,' _theorized Gray.

"Gray, I've wanted to meet you for so long!" she said, smiling serenely at Gray, " Don't worry. After all I'm your ally!"

* * *

Rustyrose walked through the wet lanes of Fairy Island, holding his hands out to the rain.

"Tears allow me to forget my desire...as wicked eyes are wicked still in the dark..." Rustyrose began, bit was interrupted by a voice above him in the cliffs.

"Hey, mister...is that a song?"

"Hmm?...No, they are just laments of the heart!" said Rustyrose, studying the small figure above him.

"So cool!" cried Chopper and slid down in front of Rustyrose, "You are cool too!"

"Are you one of the fairies?" inquired Rustyrose.

"Fairy? No! I am a reindeer and a doctor!" Chopper said and then grinned, "And I am a pirate too!"

"Ah, you are just trash then. My heart doesn't even begin to tremble when I face your kind," said Rustyrose, ready to put down the 'trash'.

"Hey, I'm not trash!" Chopper cried indignantly, "I am the doctor to the man who will be the King of Pirates!"

"Nonetheless, any person who is not a mage or is connected to Zeref is a trash. This impure world must be purged, the trash must be wiped clean!" said Rustyrose and summoned his beast.

"Whoa, a monster! So cool!" said Chopper, excited by the sudden appearance of the guardian beast.

"It pains me to think that I have to call upon my guardian beast to dispose you. Still, be glad that your death shall be painless and swift," said Rustyrose and ordered the beast to attack.

"I don't wanna die," said Chopper, glaring at Rustyrose, "After all, I have to finish my journey."

**Heavy Point**

Chopper stopped the rampaging beast's attack with both his hands, all the while glaring at Rustyrose.

"What!" cried Rustyrose, not quite expecting Chopper to have 'magic'.

"Heh, seems like I didn't tell you that I am a monster too!" quipped Chopper and hurled the beast's leg sideways. The beast attacked again, this time trying to tear Chopper up with its jaws, but Chopper dodged the attack and countered.

**Heavy Gong**

The huge beast staggered two paces back and glared back at Chopper, its jaw nearly broken by Chopper's attack. It crouched back for a moment, and then sprang at Chopper.

**Guard Point**

The full force of the beast's attack was taken by Chopper, and the ground cracked up beneath him. Yet he was unharmed, his massive amount of defensive fur having soaked up the damage.

**Horn Point**

And with that Chopper dived down under the ground. The shocked Rustyrose could do nothing but stare in surprise at where Chopper had been. He thought this...this..._thing_ was trash because he didn't know how to use magic. But it turned out that 'it' could use very powerful take-over magic indeed. The last person he fought couldn't even ruffle his guardian beast, but this one had nearly shattered the beast's jaws.

**Horn Cannon: Elf**

Chopper burst out of the ground with such force that he didn't even make a hole in the ground and slammed the beast with tremendous force on its torso, blowing a hole right through the beast's torso to its shoulder. The beast fell, and Chopper landed triumphantly upon its ruined body, which disappeared moments afterwards.

"It looks like I underestimated you," said Rustyrose, regretting having sent his guardian beast heedlessly into battle with one that it had no chance of winning against, "You are no trash, but you still need to be destroyed. You might hinder our plans. So come, o monster, and have a battle with me. Let us see who is stronger, the monster or the demon!"

Chopper said nothing, but merely grinned at him.

**Walk Point**

Before Rustyrose could even blink, Chopper was speeding towards him like a torpedo, his horn lowered toward Rustyrose. Rustyrose had seen what damage Chopper's horns could dish out, and though this time his horns did not look as imposing as before, Rustyrose knew that there was no harm in being cautious. And so he dodged, as Chopper skidded past him.

"I am the king of underworld. This arm cuts through everything with a deep black blade."

**Jet-Black Sword**

Rustyrose was fast, but Chopper in his walk point was faster still. Even as Rustyrose attacked Chopper with a fast swipe, Chopper was already thundering past him, skidding to a halt behind him.

**Kung-Fu Point**

Rustyrose started at Chopper's new form and laughed out, thinking it was a useless form.

"A form with a frozen expression is not at all beautiful. And you should cast away such forms if you are determined to win, for what good will a form with a bulky body and short limbs do?" Rustyrose chastised Chopper and started approach him menacingly. But when he got within striking distance and lashed out at Chopper, he didn't quite expect him to dodge it very easily and quickly, standing before Rustyrose before he could even complete his blow.

"HOCHA!" cried Chopper as he hit Rustyrose HARD in his stomach.

"GAAH!" cried Rustyrose as he went blasting backwards, hitting the cliff with enough force to put a crack in it.

"How do you like this form now-Hacha!" cried Chopper in the high spirits of this form.

"Clearly, your actions speak louder than your words, a clean contrary to the trash I met before, a man of all talk and no strength," said Rustyrose grimacing and clutching his chest. He was certain that there had to be a few broken ribs, it hurt so goddamn much.

"That which dwells within my right arm is a golden shield that pushes everything back."

With his defense formed, Rustyrose now charged at Chopper, more confident now. His jet-black sword shot forward, and Chopper avoided it by doing a multiple front flip, ending the flip with a powerful kick at Rustyrose. But this time Rustyrose successfully blocked the attack, but was still pushed down by the sheer force of Chopper's attack. But though he may have blocked that one attack, there still remained the fact that Chopper was faster than him. And thus, as he tried to throw Chopper off using his jet-black sword,Chopper was already off the shield and standing in the ground facing Rustyrose.

"HACHA!" cried Chopper as he performed a devastating uppercut on Rustyrose chin, clearly cracking his chin bones. Had Rustyrose not blocked off most of the impact with the edge of the shield, which he got up even if it was too late, nothing would have remained of his lower jaw and all his teeth.

'_Curses be upon the gods!' _thought Rustyrose as he looked fearfully upon Chopper, _'It seems I cannot defeat him like this at all. It calls for my own destruction. What folly it was to bethink his strongest form as the weakest! Yet, there is time for atonement. It is a wound upon my pride to use my mightiest attack this soon, but it would be a greater shame to lose.'_

So thinking Rustyrose stood up proud and confident, ignoring the pain racking through his lower jaw. After all, he must look mighty and proud to his enemy that he was about to vanquish. But Chopper sensed something off, and he bit down upon a rumble ball.

"Come to me, tower of dingir! Crush this foolish fairy with all your sadness and send him back to the earth!"

**Monster Point**

Now that Rustyrose saw what he was trying to bind and sap every ounce of magic off, he gave up all hopes of winning. He did think he might win, but he didn't want to chance it. Best find others to destroy and leave this one to Bluenote-san or the Master himself, after all how could he be confident that the tower of dingir could defeat a _monster_ of the size of itself? Now did he truly understand why Chopper called himself a monster. And to his good luck, the monster looked a little lacking in the brains department too. Thus he retreated, still channeling his magic to the tower of dingir.

**Kokutei Praime**

Chopper completely smashed the tower that was trying to hold him off, and roared angrily. He then turned to face Rustyrose and made a surprising discovery.

"EH! That strange guy is gone!"

* * *

"An ally?" asked Gray, his mind reeling with confusion and suspicion.

"That's right," Replied Urtear.

"I'm..."

"You don't have to say anything, I already know. Ur's death wasn't your fault. It was simply a mother protecting her young...in the end, it was her pride."

"Don't lie. To be honest, I don't care one way or another what you think of me...but don't say what you're doing is Ur's pride."

And the conversation could have gone on well enough, had Gray not spotted Zeref.

"Zeref!?" Gray cried, "That's right! Ur lost her life over Deliora, and the person who created it was ZEREF! YOU USED ZEREF TO TRY AND CREATE A MEANINGLESS WORLD!"

"You're wrong, Grey," Urtear said calmly.

"About WHAT?"

"Everything I did...was Ur's will."

Needless to say, Gray was stunned speechless.

* * *

"Wendy!" Erza cried out into the distance, searching for the little doctor.

"Erza Scarlet, I presume?"

"Who's there?" she roared, spinning around in the direction in which she heard the voice.

"At met at last. The true warrior, Titania," said a figure emerging out of a tree, "By the way, I took care of the little girl."

"What did you say?" grinded out Erza, looking very, very angry indeed.

"Incredible! Even Meredy was defeated. I hadn't expected that half of the Seven Kin of Purgatory would be wiped out...Bluenote!" said Hades, only to see that he was not there. Hades sighed in defeat.

"Ah well, perhaps I was too late. I apologize, Makarov. I hadn't intended to use him ever again," Hades said, "It's over."

"Wendy and all of them are coming here?" chirped Lisanna, ecstatic that Mirajane would finally get the medical treatment that would allow her to walk and fight again.

"Natsu and Lu-chan are with her, right?" said Levy happily.

"Yup. If everything goes according to plan, Carla should be leading them here," replied Pantherlily.

"That's a lifesaver. We are full of wounded here. If an enemy were to attack us here, it would be disastrous."

"He should be bringing the wounded master with him too."

"I can't believe it...even master was beaten."

"Levy..."

"I know, I know! We can't give up, no matter what! If we combine our power and work together, then surely..."

"You need to know when to give up too, as do I. In this world, no matter what you do, there will always be someone stronger than you. My broken pieces of heart tremble."

Everyone in the camp paused, as it was not one of them who spoke. It was an enemy.

"And now...I will gobble up every last one of you until not a single fairy remains."

'_Shit! I cannot maintain combat mode right now. Levy, Lisanna and myself...our spiritual powers have been exhausted to the limit' _thought Pantherlily.

'_Please hurry, Natsu!'_

* * *

"I'm worried about Cana. What if she got lost somewhere!" said Lucy, all the while hurrying in the direction of the camp together with Natsu, Wendy, Happy and Carla.

"Hopefully she managed to make it back to the camp," replied Happy.

"Hmm! Someone's there!" said Natsu.

And indeed someone was walking towards them in a slow and confident pace, with the rain falling thicker around him than it did anywhere else. And this person visibly disturbed all the Fairy Tail mages.

"Wha...?!"

"This spiritual energy...!"

"Why is the rain pouring down only near him?"

"It's like a gushing aura around his body!"

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?"

And Bluenote did reply, but not as expected.

"Can you fly?" he said to no one in particular, "Nope...still can't fly."

"Fall!"

At this single word, a very large area sank down upon the deeper into itself, as if the gods themselves have broken off some pillars that held the ground aloft.

"Gaah!"

"Kyaah!"

"Aaaah...I can't move!"

"Gravity?!"

The earth sank further down upon itself, vibrating the entire island with magical power which, o doubt, was felt by everyone upon the island.

"I'm not interested in Fairy Tail, and I could care less about Zeref. But there's one single thing that I do want, and it's here," drawled Bluenote, "Where is the grave of the first Fairy Tail master, Mavis Vermilion?"

"Why?.." panted out Natsu.

"Fairy glitter. It's written about within fairy law. It's one of the three great magics of your guild, isn't it?" said Bluenote.

"What are you talking about?" Natsu cried, having got his breath back. But he didn't get to say anything more as he crashed into the ground face first due to Bluenote's magic.

"The radiance is a merciless magic that rejects the presence of any foes. I want that magic," said Bluenote.

"You bastard!" cried Natsu and rushed at Bluenote.

"It appears to be sealed in Mavis' grave. You will tell me where it is," said Bluenote and used his magic, which caused Natsu to shoot back faster than a meteor and crash in the ground very hard.

"Are you listening to me?" said Bluenote calmly, but with an edge to his calm voice.

"Yeah, yeah! I'm listening," cried out Natsu, his body aching all over from that crash.

"Natsu..."

"No way!"

"What is he?"

"Oh, is that were you are, Makarov!" said Bluenote, malice tainting his voice, "What's that! Maybe I should ask you myself."

"GO AHEAD AND TRY LAYING ONE FINGER AT THE MASTER AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS!" roared Natsu, really angry this time. But the others knew better.

'_He's...too strong!'_

'_What should we do...what should we do!'_

'_Somebody...'_

And then something unexpected happened. Someone leapt to the 'clearing' that Bluenote made.

"So it's you!" cried Cana.

"Ooh!"

"Cana!"

"Cana-san!"

Cana immediately shot forward 12 cards and leapt forward herself. The cards fell, but she did not.

**Fairy...**

Immediately Bluenote's eyes widened in recognition.

"It can't be..." Bluenote said and acted immediately. This time he made sure Cana fell.

"You...That magic you have...Fairy glitter!?" said the bewildered Bluenote, while the Fairy Tail mages were left speechless.

"Lucy, I'm sorry for leaving you. I don't have an excuse, but I'm just sorry. But you can trust me now. With this magic I'll beat him for sure," said Cana, standing up, "Give me a hand in defeating this guy, Natsu. Distract him while I build up Magical power."

But Bluenote was having none of this. So he used his magic to scatter everyone.

"No one is capable of moving under the weight of my gravity. To think...you've nonchalantly found the magic I've been searching for all this time! Now I'm going to take that magic," said Bluenote.

"This magic can be used by members of our guild only, you wouldn't be able to use it," Cana replied.

"If you trace the origins of spellcraft, you'll find that it began with just one magic," said Bluenote, "It means every magic, in its foundation, is just a single magic."

'_One single magic...?' _thought Lucy, _'I've heard that story somewhere long ago!'_

"Those who are attuned to the flow of magic can process and use any magic in existence," said Bluenote, levitating up Cana and using his magic to wreck Cana's body in pain, "Now let me ask _you_,little girl...are _you_ able to use fairy glitter?"

"Y..yes, of...c..oarse...I can!" Cana gasped out, while Natsu shuffled around desperately to help her.

"An exceedingly complex and unfathomably intricate spell that collects and concentrates the light of the sun, the moon and the stars," said Bluenote, as he tried to take Cana's magic from her forcibly, "There's no way someone like _you_could use it. Don't worry, I'll take that magic from you!"

Natsu had enough of crawling and toiling, and he also saw Cana in danger, and he knew it was time for him to act.

**Fire Dragon's Roar**

Natsu channeled his attack at Bluenote from under the ground, successfully executing his attack. But Bluenote was not affected at all. Rather, he was thoroughly annoyed with Natsu and the others.

"Out of my way, trash!" roared Bluenote as he blew everyone away.

"Nice, Natsu!" Cana complemented Natsu, as she was out of Bluenote's reach by now.

"GO FOR IT!" Natsu roared in response.

'_I can do it...I can use this magic...'_ "Gather! Oh guiding rivers of light!"

"Impossible...!"

'_Because I am a mage of Fairy Tail!'_"Shine on to crush this wicked fang, this evil..."

**Fairy Glitter**

"GOWAAH!" Bluenote cried out in pain as the light closed rapidly upon him.

"What incredible light!"

"One of the three great magics of the guild!"

"BEGOOONE!" bellowed Cana as she poured her full power in that one shot. But Bluenote was not one to give up.

"OOOOOHH! FALL!" he cried out as he used his power to make the magical light itself to fall into the ground and disperse into different beams of light traveling skywards, as the mages of Fairy Tail watched on in stunned surprise.

"You call _THIS_ fairy glitter? Don't make me laugh!" Bluenote said coldly, "Even the most powerful magic is garbage in the hands of an incapable user. You know, don't you? That a user's magic can be taken even after they are killed? I wasn't able to fly today either. Fall into the depths of hell."

But even as Bluenote was about to do away with Cana, with a flutter of cloak someone blasted him away from her using magic. Cana's eyes leaked tears as she saw who was it that had saved her.

"Gildarts!"

"It's Gildarts!"

'_Fa..ther...'_

"So you are Gildarts!" said Bluenote, skidding to a stop and looking surprised at the revelation.

"Get away from here," Gildarts said to his little comrades, looking really dangerous and angry.

"What!"

"This is the first time I've seen Gildarts this angry."

"..."

"GO!" Gildarts roared as he rushed towards Bluenote. Bluenote ripped up the earth that Gildarts was walking upon and flipped it upside down with his magic. Gildarts merely crouched and then leapt down at Bluenote, dicing the earth in the process. Bluenote also leapt up, ready to match Gildarts in a blow. The moment their fists connected, there was a huge backlash of magic and wind that devastated the area and blew away the youthful mages.

"Crazy..."

"They both have insane magical power!"

"I think it'd be best if we listened to him and got away from here."

"Yeah...but..."

"Let's go. If we stay here, we'll only be in Gildarts' way."

Bluenote was shocked at being having pushed back by someone other than Hades.

"He overpowered ME?" he cried, "ME?!"

"It was an important test. It meant more to these kids than any adult could ever imagine," said Gildarts, "This test determined their determination towards the future. And you've stepped all over it."

So saying Gildarts charged. He was determined to bring about the change which would allow Fairy tail to win, even if it meant obliterating the enemy before him.

To him, there was only victory.

**And the third chapter is done. I hope you liked it, as it was not very satisfactory for me, with almost no creativity at all. And also I'm sorry for the little delay. Next chapter should be fun, as Brook, Zoro, and most importantly**_**Luffy**_**will have their fights.**

**FatherofTonberries: Well, I shall try...but it seems in this chapter...well you know! Although if I were to present an excuse, I would say that this is an arc of confusion and action, so its better to present an overall view rather than centering any of the two (although centering it around the Straw Hats would give me a chance to use my creativity). Well whatever...I sincerely apologize for my mistakes and hope to rectify it.**

**Well then, folks, till the next time, Namste!**


	5. Chapter-4: Three Way War

**CH-4: Three Way War**

The war on Tenrou Island, the holy grounds of the greatest 'light' guild Fairy Tail, was reaching its zenith. Nearly half of the Grimoire Heart members were down, along with a few Fairy Tail members. But of the third unrecognized and obscure side, there were no casualties as of yet. This third-party, the Straw Hats, were on the island unbidden. Their participation in this war, likewise, was merely due to some misunderstandings of all the sides, which was bound to lead to some massive confusions. At any rate, now that the fateful storm had swept up this group right into the middle of a war in which they were not supposed to take part in, the fate and history of this very world itself would never remain the same. All that was left to see was that whether this change would lead to a brighter future...or a future of death and condemnation.

* * *

"Ngghah!" Rustyrose cried out in pain as he was flung away from the camp violently.

"Who the hell are you people?" he cried, skidding to a halt. Facing him stood two members of the Raijinshuu, Freed and Bickslow.

"Freed, Bickslow!" Lisanna cried out in pleasant surprise.

"Why are you here?" asked Pantherlily, as he knew that these two had left a while ago, when they failed their tests.

"We saw the signal fire...so we came back with Gildarts," replied Bickslow.

"Gildarts came back too!?" Levy exclaimed in happiness. But Rustyrose was not impressed.

"Hmph! A couple of more fairy weaklings added to the mix are no match for my arc of embodiment," said Rustyrose as he activated his jet-black sword.

"From the start, we had no intentions of doing this fair and square. Now we're going to take you down," Bickslow ground out, already preparing his dolls. But Freed had something to say too.

"You've committed the crime of hurting our comrades. The rule doesn't apply to you," drawled Freed, getting ready to take Rustyrose down.

**Baryon Formation**

The blast of magic rocketed towards Rustyrose, but he put his golden shield up in time, blocking the entire attack.

**Yami no Ericture: Pain**

"My feet have Pegasus' wings!" chanted Rustyrose, instantly forming the same upon his shoes and flew away, completely dodging Freed's attack.

"You think you can defeat my creativity? My power is infinite!" cried Rustyrose, "Sacred guardian beast, Belfast of the hurricane! Tear them down!"

But his jubilant mood soon ceased to be as his two opponents became really serious.

**Seidher Magic, Puppeteer: Crush**

The monster-beast was immediately blown into oblivion following Bickslow's attack. Needless to say, Rustyrose was shocked. There had been few people before who could stand the might of his guardian beast, and fewer who could defeat it. But it seemed to him that his perception itself was turned upside down, as it was the second time that his guardian beast had been defeated with the destroyer not even been taxed heavily for the deed. But greater shock awaited him, as he witnessed Freed using his forbidden magic.

**Yami no Ericture: Zetsui**

Immediately after his transformation, he fried Rustyrose by encasing him in lightning. Rustyrose cried out in pain and fell into the ground, being zapped out of the sky like a fly.

"Incredible!"

"The thunder gods' power!"

"So this is what they are like when they are serious! They are really strong!"

Freed and Bickslow were in no forgiving mood, and they were out to obliterate the enemy. So they just towered over Rustyrose, seeming like two demons straight out from hell.

"Get up..." drawled Bickslow, sounding really dangerous in his low and threatening voice.

"There is no path to redemption for you," said Freed, sounding all the more deadly in his demonic and otherworldly voice.

'_This feeling in my heart...is it fear? Is it so because I know that I cannot escape them, like I did from that monster? This...this definitely is fear...' _thought Rustyrose, looking up at the intimidating forms of Freed and Bickslow, _'But...it is not bad.'_

The two Raijinshuu members watched on in amazement as the person that was upon the ground, all shaky and sweaty, now got up, full of confidence. And then he grinned at them.

"Fear is just more inspiration for my imagination! Come forth, the ghosts of Britear! DEVOUR THE SPIRIT OF THE FAERIES!"

* * *

Gildarts skidded back half a pace, being punched in the face by Bluenote. Gildarts recovered, even while Bluenote charged at him.

"You bastard!"

"I'll send you flying!"

And then the two clashed, as if they rivals from ages past.

* * *

Upon the base of the great Tenrou tree fought Erza and Azuma. Azuma's upper raiment was torn, bearing proof of a reckless clash, and his body looked disheveled and messy. On the contrary, Erza looked as good as new, courtesy of her requip magic. Erza charged, donned up in her black wing armor, and made numerous slashes at Azuma, which he avoided completely. Azuma got some distance between him and Erza, and then made a branch grab her by the ankle and hurl her away.

**Brevi**

The explosions engulfed Erza and sent her flying. But she broke her momentum by kicking herself off a branch in Azuma's direction, changing into morningstar armor mid-flight.

**Venus: Photon Slicer**

Azuma went hurtling away and crashed from branch to branch, until at last he steadied himself upon a branch. And then he smirked, looking down upon Erza.

"What's so funny?" questioned Erza.

"I've been waiting for someone strong like you," replied Azuma, "This will be fun! I fight in pursuit of those who are strong. I've heard a lot about your bravery and valor. We are the same kind of people."

"Sorry but I disagree. I don't care much about strong people," said Erza, requiping into he heart kurez armor.

"That's not true. If you didn't care, then you wouldn't have that kind of strength," Azuma argued. Erza stood silent for a moment after that and then spoke up.

"All I need is the power to protect my comrades. So long as I have the power to do that, I don't care if I'm weaker than anyone else in the world," Erza replied, but then she mellowed out, "I'm...contradicting myself, aren't I..."

"You're a strange one. You play by the rules, straight and narrow, don't you?" Azuma said in response.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means we're out of time."

And then Erza got quite a surprise as the branches around her started shifting and twisting.

"My Magic is the magic of the trees," said Azuma, "Lost magic: great tree arc! The explosions are created by condensing the magic of the earth into the fruits of these trees. But the actual power is rooted in the earth. It controls all of the magical power stored within the earth itself."

"Controls the magic within the earth?!" said Erza, surprised by the possibilities of the havoc he could cause.

"I had only one reason for coming to this island first," said Azuma, "I was to take control of the magical power of this island."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" cried Erza, even as the roots of the great Tenrou tree started shifting out of the earth.

"These are not my intentions or desires. It was an order, so I had no choice," Azuma apologized, even as Erza started wide-eyed at the events taking place.

"What...what have you done! YOU BASTARD! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO OUR SACRED LAND!" Erza cried out, even as she witnessed the fall of the great Tenrou tree. But Azuma still spoke in a calm tone, forming a plan to get Erza do her worst in his head.

"Master Hades knows well of this island's powers. The life protection that the Tenrou tree afforded to Fairy Tail is now lost. And we will continue draining the energy of all the mages of Fairy Tail."

"There's no way...You can't possibly do that!"

"It's already been done. Fairy Tail will be eradicated. There you have it. With control of the island's magic, your power is at our disposal. Well then, Titania, your friends on the island are on the verge of death, and the only one that can save them is you. Do you have the power necessary to save your comrades? Come. Show me."

* * *

It was not just Erza, but every people in the island, including the uninvited ones who witnessed the fall of the Great Tenrou tree. And the most heavily suffering were the ones bearing the crest of Fairy Tail. Gildarts was blown away, though he held, Juvia was dragged along by Meredy, Freed and Bickslow were heavily pressed back, while Natsu and the group were down upon the ground. Most of the Grimoire Heart members, except a few, were either encouraged or happy, with the Master, Hades, smiling at the turn of events and the turning up of Gildarts, while the people from magic council were terrified, most of them saying their last prayers. But the Straw hats were having mixed feeling about this. Luffy was rudely awoken from his sleep, which had begun the very moment he came to this land and had continued undisturbed through the rain. Sanji, who was back on the ship along with Nami, Franky, Robin and Ussopp, was angry for having missed what he thought was an epic battle which the 'shitty marimo' and the captain were enjoying, while the others aboard just kept the faith in Luffy strong within their hearts. Chopper just started at the falling tree, believing that it was the work of Luffy and hoped that captain was safe. Brook just paused to look at the tree and then dismissing it as the work of his captain, the first mate and the cook. As for Zoro...

* * *

"What the hell?" Zoro said, looking at the thick trunk that lay before him, "This isn't Luffy. Two other people, huh? t will be fun!"

And Zoro started walking...quite opposite from where he sensed the two with his haki. After a little while of walking, he noticed a thing.

"What the hell? It's the wrong direction I'm walking in! Damn Island, playing tricks on me! I could've sworn that I was walking in the right direction!" Zoro mumbled to himself and started walking. He hadn't gone too far when he saw a tower of flame rising up, and he quickened his pace. He was soon rewarded well, as he heard and sensed a massive explosion somewhere just before him and then saw a man standing triumphant over a fallen woman with a sword.

"Titania! You've been beaten!" the man proclaimed.

"So you're the one who uprooted this tree," Zoro said smirking, "Seems like you're strong. Seeing as you just defeated a swordsman, how about fighting another one?"

"Who are you?" asked Azuma. At this question, Zoro's smirk got wider, bordering on pure devilish.

"Let's just say I am a hungry beast, who wants to sate the hunger of battle," said Zoro demonically, while Azuma smirked, knowing that he had found a person akin to him whom he didn't need to threaten in order to make him go all out. But their tense moment was dispersed by a string of coughs and a large panting sound behind them. And then Erza saw the newcomer.

"Who are you?" she said.

"I'm just a swordsman, like you are," Zoro replied, "And sorry, but I'll be taking your opponent from you."

"But, I cannot allow him to..."

"Our deal remains unbroken, Titania," said Azuma, "I'll restore the powers as soon as I'm defeated, it matters not by whose hand. But remember you're the only one who can fight!"

"Nobody can take my fight off me..." Zoro drawled in the sidelines.

"Oh! Of course, I excluded you!" said Azuma and attacked.

**Brevi**

Zoro just stood there unfazed as the explosion washed over him. And when it uncovered him, he was standing completely unscathed with Wadoa Ichimonji drawn.

"Hmph! You're as good as dead if this is how strong you are," taunted Zoro and counterattacked.

**Ittoryu: 360 Pound Hou**

The massive wind burst that blew a hole in all the things that stood in its way surprised Azuma. He expected his enemy to be strong, but not this strong. But then he broke into a grin and sent a huge fist of wood to attack Zoro, only for the wood to be slashed in two.

"I can cut steel thicker than that, and you think you stand a chance against me sending those pieces of timber at me?" said Zoro, while Erza stood amazed at this man. He could cut through things as if he had the scythe of the grim reaper himself. Erza knew slicing through those thick woods were not easy. In fact she couldn't manage it at all. Yet, this man had sliced through a giant wooden fist as if it were made of paper.

As for Azuma, he knew that the only way to defeat this person was to expose him to the really strong bursts of magic. Yet it didn't hurt to try something else...

**Phorium Seeker**

**Ittoryu: Yokkodori**

The cutting leaves and cutting wind clashed and canceled each other out. Azuma then made a gigantic root come out through the ground which Zoro had vacated moments earlier, having predicted it all through his haki. Zoro then made a swing with his sword, which caused a 'flying slash' to completely sever the huge root in two.

**Laum Seeker**

The thin branches lashed out at Zoro, who either dodged or deflected them all. But Azuma didn't Give Zoro a chance to counterattack.

**Tower Burst**

Zoro burst backwards to avoid the attack, which he had seen coming due to his haki, even as the tower of flame and explosion reached out to the heavens. Zoro did another slash at Azuma which put a cut upon his chest even after covering himself in an enormous mass of branches, roots and vines, most of which lay on his near his feet, slashed clean by Zoro's attack. Azuma still stood, but he was no longer smirking. He hurled forth his vines and branches, which accompanied a mass of explosions. Zoro evaded, sliced and worked round, but in this confusion, his haki sensed a large and powerful attack coming and he smirked, finally drawing his other two swords, which had been growling for battle all this time.

**Terra Kura Mare**

Erza watched in amazement as the person drew _all three sword_ and put one in his _mouth_! He then turned around and was engulfed by the tremendous explosion. But it was not long before he emerged, frazzled and smoking to be sure, but otherwise unaffected. Azuma, the moment he saw that his explosion was no good, started covering himself in a gigantic mass of wood, but Zoro was not to be denied of his victory.

**Santoryu: Rengoku Onigiri**

The wood gave way before Zoro's attack, and it hit home. A cross-shaped wound was embedded upon Azuma's chest, and he fell with a smirk in his face.

"Heh, I see! You are truly a beast!" said Azuma, even as plant saplings started growing all over his body, "Ah I will just uphold my part of the deal!"

"You're not a bad person," replied Zoro, and he felt Erza walk up to Azuma and stand beside him, "I hope we meet again."

"Ah! I wish that could happen!" replied Azuma, slowly turning into wood, "But I have long crossed my limits and I must pay for it."

"Then, you'll return the powers of our guild?" this time it was Erza who spoke.

"I had promised, so I will," replied Azuma and then turned into a tree himself, whereas Erza leaned on her sword. But Zoro was not going to wait for long.

"I..I wold like to spar with you someday," said Erza, and Zoro turned his back to her.

"Any day you wish," replied Zoro and started walking away.

"We will meet again! And that day I will surpass you," Erza cried at the back of Zoro. Zoro just smiled and walked on, searching for his captain and their home and ship, the Thousand Sunny.

* * *

All over the island, the fairy tail members were getting their powers back. Case in point- Gildarts.

"Ahahaha!" cried Bluenote, sounding as if he were raving mad, "Even the great Gildarts is trash without his magic. What a joke!"

Bluenote tried to kick Gildarts again, only for his foot to be caught by Gildarts.

"It's back?" Bluenote said, sounding surprised.

"How am I supposed to present the pristine dignity of an examiner now that you've rustled me all up?" Gildarts quipped, "Try to set a good example in front of the kids at least!"

And then Gildarts flung Bluenote away. But Bluenote was not fazed.

"Yes! Just like that, Gildarts! Let's get this fight really started!" Bluenote said and started employing his magic, "It's about time we both started getting serious."

**Black Hole**

"Nghhk!" cried out Gildarts as he resisted getting sucked up into the hole, which was consuming everything in the vicinity.

"What is this...!?" he cried.

"A point of infinite gravity that will swallow everything up," replied Bluenote, "Fly! FLY!"

But then Gildarts started using his magic.

"RAAGH!" he cried, as he poured more and more magic, enough to finally put a crack in Bluenote's magic itself. But he didn't stop till the black hole was completely shattered.

"If you want to fly so badly, then shall I send you flying?" said Gildarts, "Perhaps if I shatter your magic..."

**Hoja Kensei Itten**

And then with the tremendous punch, Gildarts sent Bluenote flying.

* * *

"We're back" cried Bickslow, using his powers to drive away the spirits, and then they stood facing Rustyrose menacingly.

"Now it's payback time!" Freed said menacingly, while Rustyrose steeled himself up. He knew that he couldn't defeat these fairies like this. But he knew what could.

"Come forth, Tower of Dingir!" he invoked, "Come out of the earth and crash through all these foolish fairies!"

And then it came, rumbling the ground and sweeping the able-bodied mages along with it.

"What is this!"

"I can't move my body!"

"Uwaaaahhh!"

"Crap, we were caught in it too!"

Bickslow started removing his steel visor, meaning to use his unavoidable figure eyes.

"Your eyes won't work on someone wearing glasses, right?" said Rustyrose confidently. He knew that unlike that guy, these people stood no chance against the tower of dingir.

"Not you...our only hope happened to have one eye open," said Bickslow, motioning at Elfman, "I will be taking control of you!"

"By all means," he replied, and then stood up, being controlled by Bickslow's magic.

"Let's go!" cried Bickslow, and controlled him to kick viciously at Rustyrose's neck. Rustyrose screamed out and shot forward, losing his concentration and accidentally dispelling the magical tower.

"Freed!" cried Lisanna, converting into her bird form and pushing Freed down, making him gain velocity, "It's up to you!"

"I got it!" replied Freed and sped down at an amazing speed, whilst pulling out his magical sword.

**Yami no Ecriture: Destruction**

With that followed the inevitable destruction of Rustyrose.

* * *

"Urtear!" Meredy cried out in concern as she was smashed by Gray. But it proved to be needless as Urtear flipped herself into her feet using the momentum of her crash.

"I am of no consequence! Hurry and take Zeref to the escape point!" Urtear cried, her eyes never even leaving the enemy for a second. She WAS the eldest of the Seven Kin after all.

"Yes," replied Meredy and escaped the place with Zeref. But Gray was not going to let Meredy get away unchallenged.

"Juvia snap out of it!" he ordered. And Juvia did immediately sit up.

"Gray-sama's voice!" she cried, with hearts in her eyes, "Juvia...to be awakened by Gray's voice...what kind of sun-kissed sheets am I lying beneath now?!"

"Forget about it! Chase after them and make sure that she doesn't get away with Zeref!" Gray cried.

"Yes!" Juvia said happily and started to chase after Meredy. But she immediately collapsed into a heap due to the injury she had inflicted upon herself during her fight with Meredy. But she was not going to give in even for a second. And so she began to crawl at Meredy as fast as Meredy could run.

"If it's Gray's order, pain like this is nothing!"

Gray watched as Juvia went after Meredy, and soon they were out of sight. But the moment he turned towards Urtear, he was greeted by a kick in his face. He skidded back and then glared at her, but as soon as he rushed back at Urtear, she formed a time orb and shot it at Gray with tremendous speed. Gray shot back as soon as the orb collided with him and groaned, getting up after a moment's pause. Gray had enough of it and counterattacked.

**Ice Make: Lance**

"I'll fast forward the ice's time to the future," said Urtear and used her time magic, making the ice disappear into the air.

"What!" exclaimed Gray, but then he steeled himself and attacked again.

**Ice Make: Hammer**

"To the future!"

And the hammer disappeared.

"Yohohohoho!" a melodic laugh floated over to the ears of Gray and Urtear, and they paused in midst of their one-sided clash to look at the newcomer. But what they saw shocked them. A very tall _skeleton_ with a crown hat, a feathered mantle, a pair of heart-shaped goggles and very fashionable clothes was walking towards them, all the while laughing his strange, alien laugh.

"Another Grimoire Heart mage?" Gray said uncertainly, although he did actually have no doubts that he wasn't one, if the look of surprise on Urtear's face was anything to go by.

"No, he isn't among our ranks," replied Urtear, confirming Gray's doubts.

"Yohohohoho! It certainly isn't everyday that you see two people clashing in the rain! It certainly sends a tingle of excitement in me, although I've no skin! Yohohohoho!" said the skeleton, who was actually Brook, the musician of the Straw Hats, all the while getting nearer and nearer to the two mages. He meant to go on and ask the woman where he was and why was she fighting, but instead he found some more pressing questions well up from within him.

"May I see your panties?" Brook requested to Urtear right in front of her. Gray sweat-dropped at this and Urtear was beyond angry.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY YOU PERVERTED SKELETON?!" she roared and launched her time orbs at Brook. Brook merely laughed and dodged the shots, only to realize that he couldn't dodge as they were homing upon him.

"Waaahh! What a violent lady!" Brook cried and ran around comically. But once he saw that it did no good and he could not shake these things off, he turned around and sliced all five orbs in two in the speed that only he was capable of using. But it was useless, as the orbs flew uncontrollably for a few seconds and then three of them rejoined themselves and rushed back at Brook, who was just sheathing his cane-sword, Soul Solid. He saw that the orbs were heading back at him, and so he started running around in his uncanny speed again.

Gray watched all this with a sweatdrop in his face and growing increasingly uncomfortable. On one hand there was the person who had tried to use him and many others, and also an enemy member. On the other hand there was a skeleton guy whom he knew nothing about, and who had arrived at the scene just now. And so, although he knew not whether it was a right decision or wrong, he decided to refrain from fighting and remain there to watch how things folded out.

Brook stopped running around and turned to an approaching orb, unsheathing his cane sword. Making a very quick thrush, in fact faster than the eyes could perceive, he utterly destroyed the first orb. The other two were approaching fast, and they would reach him within a second, one after another. But Brook was no slouch, and he was already preparing an attack.

**Aubade Coup Droit**

The ranged thrush attack decimated the orbs and blew a hole in a rock that was in the path of the attack. Gray was surprised at this, as the only person he knew who could use such attacks with a sword that looked so flimsy was Erza. Urtear was surprised too, as he completely decimated the orbs, thus effectively making the orbs out of her power's reach.

"Ha, so you're a strong swordsman," said Urtear, looking warier than before, as she knew that he was no pushover. But Brook just smiled at the compliment.

"Hearing a compliment from a young and beautiful lady like you makes my heart jump in joy, although I have no heart. Yohohohoho!" said Brook, but then he grew a bit sober, "But just be glad you are trying to fight me and not Zoro-san. He is like a demon, and he completely out-skills me with a sword! It sends chills down by body to even spar with him, even though I have no skin."

"Very well then, skeleton, let's see what you've got," said Urtear, and then turned to Gray, "Don't worry. I WILL kill you slowly and painfully after I'm done with this one."

"I'd like to see you try," said Gray from the place he had chosen for his neutral observation.

"If you want so much to fight, than I will comply. Shall we clash then? Yohohohoho!" cried Brook and launched himself at Urtear with a laugh. Urtear had magically formed her orbs, allowing them to fly while being flash forwarded and formed a sword of ice, barely matching up with Brook's attacks. And then the sword was sliced clean by Brook.

Brook was surprised that such a nameless blade had withstood so many of his blows. Sure, he was not so proficient at slicing through steel as Zoro was, put he was still adequate enough. But Urtear was surprised too. She was really surprised that this skeleton-man could slice through that sword which she had magically reinforced. And so, the both started at each other with surprise before reacting. Brook dashed forward, seeming as if he had disappeared from his place and reappeared in front of Urtear, pushing her back with a barrage of blows, which she survived by immediately repairing her ruined sword with her magic. Thrice did Brook broke her sword, and thrice did she mend it within a moment's notice. Urtear was beyond furious by this point. She hated being outdone by anyone else, and being dominated by someone else was something she couldn't stand even more. So she smashed the orbs at Brook without wasting a second, or rather, where he WAS. Brook dodged the orbs which had smashed into each other with enough force to decimate themselves into smithereens.

"Are you angry? It doesn't suit a young and beautiful lady like you. Yohohohoho!" Brook laughed. And then he launched himself at Urtear at breakneck speeds.

**Gavotte Bond En Avant**

Urtear just barely dodged the attack, the attack scraping through Urtear's sides. Urtear whirled around just in time to feebly block the flurry of blows that Brook was raining upon her. She was no swordsman and she knew it. If things went on like this, she would either be overwhelmed or be forced to use _that_ magic, none of which she would like as a possible event. Urtear had tried using her magic upon both the skeleton and the sword, none of which worked. Next time her sword broke, she would use _that_ magic. But once her sword broke, Brook himself disengaged and stood a little away from her, humming what she thought was a song.

"Well, take care then!" a voice sounded behind her, surprising both her and Grey. It the skeleton-man's voice.

"You! When did you get behind me!?" Urtear said, sounding surprised. But she received no answer, and watched him re-sheathing his sword. And then, it closed with a metallic clink.

**Quinto Tias: Fantasia**

"Wha..." she didn't even get to finish her sentence. As if the completion of sheathing the sword were a command, a wound opened up upon her belly the moment Brook's sword clicked upon the sheath.

"GAAH!" she cried and coughed up blood, even as she tried to stop the spurt of blood from her stomach. She stumbled around for a moment in the crevice before toppling into the sea.

"Oh no! What have I done! I can't jump into the water to bring her up! I just killed a very lovely lady!" Brook cried, running around the place in circles, while shedding anime tears.

"I will bring her up!" declared Gray and stood at the edge of the crevice, "You can go on your own way. I will let you off this one time."

"But what about you? Won't you drown?" asked Brook.

"No, I won't."

So saying Gray jumped in, while Brook just stood there motionless. Finally he sighed and started walking.

"Oh!" Brook sighed, "I have to find out my crew. The clash with the young girl had nearly made me forget about them. I just hope those two would live. If they don't, It will remain a very heavy weight in my heart, not that I have a heart. Yohohohoho! And now to the Sunny!"

* * *

Nearly all people had finished their parts in the war, though there still remained a few jobs to be done here and there. But there still remained two immensely powerful people who hadn't fought yet, along with a dormant legendary dark mage who was on the loose. These three were the heights of the different factions that battled, although there was a fourth pinnacle, who was vanquished by the Grimoire Heart master earlier in the war. First was Luffy, the captain of the Straw Hat pirates. Then there was Hades, the master of the dark guild Grimoire Heart. Next was Zeref, the legendary death mage and the most feared mage in history. And finally there was Makarov, master of the guild Fairy Tail. There were already so many powerful people gathered in one single island, and the war was waning too. So who would've guessed that another grave power was already approaching the Island?

* * *

Grey swam down into the depths in search of Urtear. Even though she was an enemy, she WAS of Ur's blood, after all. But when he spotted her and swam close up to her, he was surprised. She was conscious, well so and she was ready to attack him.

'_That stance...!' _he though, just before he was attacked.

**Ice Make: Rosencorone**

The huge rose of ice clashed with Gray's ice barrier, which he put up in the last moment.

'_I never thought I would see this magic ever again...but she is of Ur's blood.' _thought Gray. He tried to approach Urtear, but was greeted by a powerful kick in his side. But Urtear was lost within her mind too.

'_These are...the memories of my mother?' _she thought, as scenes and occurrences flashed before her eyes, _'Why am I seeing this now? Ur was melted at Garna island and was washed away into the ocean...the ocean...the ocean?!'_

'_Am I inside my mother?!' _Urtear thought, suddenly feeling very small and very secure at the same time, _'It's not like I remembered...at all!'_

But she was suddenly snapped out of her mother's memories, and she found herself starting into the face of Gray, who was on the verge of attacking her.

**Ice Make: Gungunir**

Gray's powerful ice attack made Urtear break through the water surface. She was spent, her wound finally sapping her, and the memories creating a daze in her mind. And then Gray began to speak.

"Ur once told me a story about you..."

* * *

"Hold on!" Juvia said in a mechanical voice, crawling towards Meredy at her top speed.

"Hieee! What's with her!" cried Meredy, running away as fast as she could.

"Give me Zeref."

"What about all the things you said about love?"

"I don't want to argue with you."

But they were cut short by the appearance of one man.

"Zancrow?" said Meredy.

"Meredy! Where are you taking him?" Zancrow asked, while Meredy could only mumble replies, "So you plan on betraying us along with Urtear? Well?"

"No," replied Meredy, looking down, but Zancrow was not buying it.

"YOU ARE NO LONGER A PART OF OUR GUILD!" Zancrow roared and swept Meredy, Juvia and Zeref away in his fire attack.

"Uhehe! Zeref belongs to us!"

"Wait! Zeref is Urtear's future...My future."

"How naïve! How long are you going to keep spouting that crap?"

"But Urtear promised! She said our town could go back to the way it was if we make it to the Great Magic World!"

"But it was Urtear who destroyed your town!"

The last reply made Meredy go stock still. Tears spilled out of her eyes, as she desperately tried to dismiss Zancrow's reply as a lie. It was then that Zeref, who was now with Zancrow, spoke up.

"Acknologia..."

And then his magic spilled out uncontrollably.

**So this was the chapter. Hope you liked it. Now, I have a good news and a bad news. Bad news is, my exams are coming up and I need to study for them. So I would've to put this story on hold for a while. But the good news is, I am going nowhere without completing this arc. So expect the next update soon.**

**As for reviews...**

**Sabo88: But I really loved Gildarts in action, and didn't want to see him losing. So...**

**Kitamiapple: I hope One Piece Fan's reply made you see what exactly I am doing...**

**arandomreviewer: Well, you've bought up the most sensitive thing of all. The power level. The way I view them is this...**

** Pre TS-**

** Luffy=the higher s-class members (lyk mistgun)**

** Zoro, Sanji=lower s-class (lyk erza)**

** Franky, Robin=natsu and the dragon slayers**

** Brook=Gray**

** Chopper, Ussopp, Nami=lucy, elfman etc**

** Post TS-**

** Luffy=Gildarts**

** Zoro, Sanji=Laxus (post ts. lyk when he defeats Raven Tail)**

** Chopper=Dragon force Natsu (due to monster pt.)**

** Robin=low s-class (post ts) I think so because-1) her clone ability (read the manga properly if you wanna know exactly how useful that is) 2)increased hana-hana ability (can controll the number of flowers and the number of hands separately) 3)Had enough strength to push back the sunny even underwater**

** Franky, Brook=post ts Natsu and Gazeel**

** Nami, Ussopp=post ts gray**

**And we still don't know how strong the post time skip characters are!**

**And with that, this chapter ends. till then, namaste!**


	6. Chapter-5: The End of The Begining

**CH-5:****The End of The Beginning**

The battle on the Fairy island was nearly in its end, its climax. The only foe that remained undefeated was Hades. And this battle was not long off.

Already facing Hades in his ship were the Fairy tail mages Natsu, Erza, Grey, Wendy and Lucy. The exceeds were away in a small, but important mission of their own. The tension in the air was enough to create a static, but Natsu could not stand the inaction. Thus, he made his move, signalling the beginning of the battle.

"Eat the power of Fairy Tail!" Natsu cried an sent forth his flames.

"The power of Fairy tail?" Hades asked as he stopped the raging flames with just an upraised hand. But then the flames parted, revealing Gray and Erza, both ready to strike.

**Kureha Gessen**

**Cold Excalibur**

Next came the blows of Lucy and Wendy, though Wendy's was not exactly a blow.

"Open, the gate of Taurus!"

The celestial zodiac spirit dealt a blow to Hades and disappeared, so that Lucy could conserve her magic.

"I'll enhance everyone!"

**Arms X Armor X Vernier**

Grey and Erza, now reinforced, charged at Hades. They attacked multiple times in a combo, without giving Hades even a second to stop dodging. But Hades put as much distance as he could between himself and the two with an almighty backward leap.

"Well then, if you are going to be so relentless..." Hades said and fired off his magical chain. The clawed end caught Erza and set her hurling at Gray. But while Hades was focused at Gray and Erza, Natsu took the opportunity to attack.

**Fire Dragon's Wing Attack**

Hades skidded back after blocking the attack, and then he sent forth his magic chain, catching Natsu by the ear. As he was about to send Natsu flying, however, Erza sliced through Hades' chain, thus freeing Natsu. By an unspoken consent, Natsu leapt up, while Gray rushed forward, wielding his gigantic ice hammer. Natsu landed on the hammer and lunched himself off, while Gray contributed him with a launching force and much velocity by swinging his hammer in conjunction to Natsu's jump. Wendy and Lucy then contributed their own bits.

**Sky Dragon's Roar**

"Scorpio!"

**Sand Buster**

The two attacks then converged and became one, making the use of the magic, Unison Raid. But at the center of this tumultuous magic was Natsu, who was flying at Hades in a tremendous speed, all the while charging his attack.

**Fire Dragon's Sword Horn**

Hades crashed back into the wall, and vanished into the gloom of the other room. But the fairies remained on alert, knowing in their hearts that the one that bought their master down could not be bought down by an attack of this caliber, but still they couldn't help but hoping.

"The mistakes that people make are eventually labeled as 'experience'. But with a true mistake, there can be no true experience gained. Because the mistake of making me your opponent will leave you with no future," Hades lectured, walking up to the young mages without a scratch from their combined attack.

"No way!"

"It had no effect on him!"

"Hey! I went at it with my full strength!"

"...!"

"The level of his magical power changed!"

"Well then," said Hades, "Are you about finished with your warm-ups?"

That one sentence had a visible impact on the Fairy Tail mages. They had hoped that their attack would leave at least leave a doubt within his mind and an impact on him, but instead they found that he was getting serious, without even being the least discomforted by their attack. And so it was understandable that they were all shaking, with the exception of Erza, who was too focused Hades. And thus she was immediately on alert the moment Hades' magic started flaring dramatically.

"He's coming!" she cried, and the next moment Wendy vanished. She quite literally vanished, her clothes falling into the ground, without anything to cling on. The young mages were stupefied at the fate of their fellow and youngest mage.

"WENDY!"

"She's gone!"

"What did you do to her?"

"NO WAY!"

Suddenly, a very unexpected voice rang out from somewhere within the room.

"'Don't worry, I'm fine!' that's what she says."

"Horologium!" Lucy cried, while the others sighed in relief.

"I'm currently in my automatic danger response mode," replied the clock like celestial spirit.

"Um...I was in many dangerous situations up till now," said Lucy, getting annoyed by the spirit.

"Yes, but it was the most dangerous situation till now," remarked Horologium, "'Thank you Horologium-san' she says. But you see, I am at the end of my limits, and now I must go back. So please be careful and always remain on alert."

The spirit then disappeared, leaving Wendy to drop down with a new change of clothing.

"Thanks," mouthed Lucy.

"So these are Makarov's brats?" Hades spoke up, interrupting the Fairy Tail mages, "As expected, they are interesting."

"Are you an acquaintance of the old man?" Natsu asked, hatred evident in his voice.

"Did you not research me? I went by the name of Purehito, the second Fairy Tail master," Hades said, stroking his beard in remembrance.

"Liar!" roared Natsu, but Hades went on, unheeding of Natsu's screams.

"I was the one who nominated Makarov to be the second Fairy Tail master."

"STOP SHITTING WITH ME!"

Natsu charged head on at Hades, but Hades stopped his charge by creating a seal.

**Amaterasu 48 Formula Seal**

Natsu was consumed by the tremendous explosion, even as a second explosion lashed out at Wendy and Gray. Lucy was caught by Hades' magical chain, and was hurled right into Erza. Hades bound together the two female mages, and then blew them away with his explosion. Natsu was charging at Hades, but he was immediately intercepted. The air was thick with Hades' magic bullets, which were fired by him with tremendously accurate aim. Erza, Lucy, Natsu, Gray, Wendy...all were down.

"Fuhahahaha! Dance with my magic!" cried Hades maniacally.

* * *

"H..hey! Ha..haven't they soundproofed their ship? I can still hear the th..thunder!" Pantherlily cried, clutching his head in fear of the thunder.

"Oh, you're going to be okay," Carla said nonchalantly.

And the exceeds moved further into the heart of the ship.

* * *

"Do fairies have tail? Or don't they? An eternal mystery. An eternal adventure," said Hades walking between the bodies of the defeated fairies, "The origin of the name of your guild probably sprung from that thought."

And then he stepped on Natsu's head, trying to get Natsu to fear him.

"But that journey's about to end," Hades said, "Mavis entrusted her will to me, and I entrusted mine to Makarov. But it proved to be a mistake. He changed the guild. Too much light shone down on Fairy Tail."

"What's wrong with change!" Natsu cried, lifting his head forcefully, "That's the way we are! We don't live like we have already died, like you do! We live with our lives in the line, bastard! If you don't have the courage to live, you might as well die!"

"Annoying brat..." Hades said as he shot Natsu all over, while Natsu was crying out hoarsely in pain, his voice having being broken. He was trashed about like a rag doll, unable to even lift his finger in the pain.

"If you want to hate someone, hate Makarov. It's because of him that you have to suffer and die like this," Hades said coldly. Erza was screaming for Hades to stop, Gray was hoping that Natsu would be strong and not give in to the pain, and Wendy and Lucy were sobbing hopelessly.

"Y..you...a..re the o..ld man's ri..val, right?" asked Natsu, panting and looking at Hades out of one eye. Hades didn't reply, but raised his hand to finish Natsu off. But he never got his chance. For suddenly, lightning crashed down upon the ship, and the living spark pooled itself in front of Hades.

"So HE'S the old man's rival, Natsu?" spoke up the living lightning that was Laxus. And without even letting Hades speak, he attacked Hades.

"Laxus!"

"He came for us!"

"He's the master's...!"

"...!"

Hades skidded back and glared at Laxus.

"So you're related to Makarov?" he said. But Laxus did not reply to him. Instead, he turned to his comrades.

"How pathetic...all your cloths smell like shit stained rags," he chided his subordinates lightly.

"Yup!" Natsu replied smiling.

"What are you doing here?" Erza asked out of pure curiosity.

"I had planned on coming to this island to visit Mavis' grave, after all, I was once a part of Fairy Tail," said Laxus, "I was shocked that the second had forsaken her."

"So at least make a grave for him and pay him your respects!" he drawled, looking like the grim reaper who'd come to take the soul of a demon.

"Ah! That brat still had these kinds of relatives!" Hades drawled in reply.

The two glared a moment at each other before Laxus attacked. He forced hades back, battering him for a few moments before Hades recovered and leapt away from him. Laxus used an attack akin to his lightning dragon's roar, which Hades narrowly dodged. The attack contributed to the damage that the already battered room had suffered. But Laxus came on.

Hades fired his magic chain at Laxus, which he easily dodged. But his eyes widened when he saw that Hades had reeled in the massive positioned like a statue at the end of the gigantic room. Laxus narrowly dodged the globe as it thundered past him, but he couldn't dodge the magical thrush attack that Hades used on him. Laxus was stunned for a moment, and Hades took this opening to create a Amaterasu Formula seal around Laxus. And then it detonated, pushing every other mage in the room back by the mere air pressure. But out of the smoke Laxus came, flashing in his lightning form. Laxus then knee'd Hades powerfully in his back, sending him flying. But Hades recovered and glared at Laxus, even as Laxus convulsed and sank down into the floor, as an aftereffect of the Amaterasu Formula magic.

"Hang in there Laxus!"

"He must've been hit by that magic."

"Laxus!"

And then Laxus spoke.

"The world is really a huge place. To think that a monster of a person like this exists...I still have ways to go," said he.

"What are you saying!?"

"Get up Laxus!"

"Looks like you have finally figured out your place, Laxus" Hades said, "NOW YOU CAN DISAPPEAR!"

So saying Hades sent forth a massive explosion in Laxus' direction.

"I am no longer a member of Fairy Tail...but if something happens to the old man, I can still get angry about it, right?" Laxus spoke, his voice quivering with emotion.

"Of course you can, dammit!"

"Laxus, get up!"

"If you get hit by that, it will all be over!"

Laxus spoke nothing as he began to transfer his power. The transferred power shone brilliantly in front of Natsu. But before he could ask any questions, a massive explosion took place, tearing a hole in the side of the airship. And worse still, Laxus was hit by it. But Laxus did manage to give his message to Natsu.

"This is my treat, Natsu."

"Thanks for the meal," Natsu replied, his body now surrounded by sparks and static, but he didn't seem to mind, "Why did you give this to me? I'm so much weaker than you..."

"It's not about strong or weak. Who was hurt worst by all this? Someone with the guild's brand needs to handle this...the right way," Laxus said, shivering and laboring to keep his voice straight, "Take the pain that was caused to your guild and return it 100 fold."

"Yeah.." replied Natsu, fusing together the lightning and the flame, "This is lightning flame dragon 100 fold payback!"

"He ate the lightning?"

"Lightning and flames combined?!"

"Lightning flame dragon..."

"Just like when he ate etherion..."

"UOOOOHH!" cried Natsu as he launched himself at Hades and punched him, sending him flying.

But the next second Natsu was upon him. First Hades crashed back due to Natsu's flames, and then he was zapped by the lightning.

"NUUAAAAAAHHH!" Hades cried out in pain, and the Fairy Tail mages were amazed.

"After the impact of the flames, the lightning follows up with an attack!" observed Gray.

"HOW DARE YOU HARM OUR GUILD!" Natsu bellowed, as he rained blows after blows at Hades, "I'M GOING TO ERASE YOU!"

Natsu bought up the flames in one hand and the lightning in the other and combined them. He used that tremendous combination to attack Hades, but Hades still withstood the attack and fired his chain at Natsu. Natsu was unable to dodge them, and they bound his arms.

"AHAHAHA! I've bound your arms!" laughed Hades, but his joy was short-lived. Natsu broke out of the chains using his flames, and attacked Hades.

**Lightning Flame Dragon's Roar**

The massive attack hit Hades with its sheer power and blew a hole on the port side of the airship. The other Fairy tail mages were swept back too, by the mere force of the attack. The attack continued unchecked all over the island, tearing through the entire place. When the attack cleared, they saw Hades lying down in the ground, and Natsu took himself to be triumphant.

"I did it..." Natsu mumbled and fell down out of the ship, only to be grabbed in the hand by Lucy.

"Thanks for saving me. I'm completely out of magic now." Natsu said, while the others sighed in relief.

"It's over."

"It's finally over."

"Good job, Natsu..."

* * *

Carla, Happy and Pantherlily were in crawling through some vents in search of the power source of the ship.

"Where do you think is the power source?" Lily asked Carla, while Carla gave a measuring look.

"With a ship this huge, there must be a giant lacrima somewhere around," she replied.

"Speaking of which," Pantherlily said, "Why are we in these tiny vents?"

"Ask Happy," Carla replied in contempt.

"No reason in particular," responded Happy!

"NO REASON?" Pantherlily and Carla cried in unison. But suddenly Happy stopped up ahead, causing Carla to crash nose first into Happy's butt, and Pantherlily on Carla's. But before they could say anything, Happy's troubled voice floated up from ahead.

"What is it...It's alive?!"

* * *

"You're quite some amazing youngsters," a dreaded voice spoke up from somewhere before them, "That damn Makarov...Hes raised some incredible brats. I don't know how many decades its been since I have taken this much damage. It would be simple to finish things as it is now, but I want to properly thank you for entertaining me."

"That's impossible!"

"No way!"

"That attack didn't have any effect on him at all?"

But Hades spoke on, as inexorable as a devil of old.

"I'm going to show you something quite remarkable..." Hades said, removing his eye patch from his right eye.

**Devil's Eye Awakening**

"The abyss of magic! This domain is far beyond any of your wildest imaginations!" Hades said, now truly sounding like a devil rather than an old sage.

"NO WAY!"

"THAT CAN'T BE!"

"I've never felt this kind of magic power before!"

"IT'S STILL INCREASING!"

"This is your end, Fairy Tail," Hades said, even as Natsu fell down to his knees, unable to maintain the strength to even keep standing. The entire group of Fairy Tail mages were shaking by now.

"To walk down the path of magic is to fall down into the deepest well of darkness," said Hades, "Beyond the depths, shining in the abyss is the 'Magic Of One'. Just a little more and I will reach the magic of one. But that infinitesimal distance is the deepest stretch of my path. 'The Great World of Magic' fills that depth, the depth that Zeref inhibits. Tonight, Zeref will be awoken. Tonight, I shall Reach the Magic of One!"

Hades' magic had increased so much that everyone had started to shake with fear. They were shaking hopelessly, as if they were leaves in the midst of a storm. But even in between that fearful shaking, Natsu suddenly found courage in his heart to stand up.

"Fear is not evil," he quoted Gildarts, "It only allows us to learn our own weaknesses. When people learn their weakness, they grow stronger and kinder..."

But he didn't get to finish, as a strange and outlandish laughter floated up to their ears.

"Shishishishi!"

Turning around, the fairies saw a person walking towards them. He didn't look particularly strong or dangerous, but there was something in him that assured everyone of his victory.

"I like you people!" said the person, cracking his knuckles, "Now whose ass do I have to beat?"

"And who are you supposed to be, to think that you could beat my ass?" said Hades, looking a little doubtful and a more than little amused.

"I am Monkey D Luffy!" said Luffy, tilting his hat and literally radiating with confidence. His wide and confident grin immediately bought hope to the fallen mage's hearts, more so than Natsu's words had, as there still remained the fact that Hades could not be defeated by them without their magic. Even though they absolutely knew nothing about this man, they were still confident that he would win.

"Well then, show me what you've got won't you?" taunted Hades, hoping to see why this brat was so confident. Luffy wasted no time and soru'd to where Hades was. Hades wasn't prepared for Luffy to move so fast and could only gape at him when he appeared right in front of his face.

**Gomu Gomu no Bullet**

Hades was flung back with such force that not anyone, not even Laxus or Natsu, had managed to hit him with. He crashed down heavily on the wall with his arms crossed. Hades had convinced himself that this person used teleportation magic, he therefore thought that Luffy wouldn't be powerful enough to even warm him up. And as such, he certainly didn't expect him to be stronger than almost anyone he knew.

'_This is bad! He is probably stronger than Bluenote, despite how he looks! His ridiculous strength and speed covers all up for his lack of a vast amount of magic. I cannot take him lightly,'_thought Hades, before speaking out loud, "Heh, you're strong, brat. I will have to take you seriously!"

"Oi, old man, you're weak," said Luffy, and an astonished silence followed. Out of all the things he could say, no one expected him to say that, just as no one who didn't know this man would. But to Hades, it was the greatest insult anyone had heaped upon him.

"Wh..what did you say, BRAT! DON'T GET TOO CONCEITED!" roared Hades anger filling him to the brim. And then he attacked. He shot a volley of magical gunshots, fiercer and faster than he did. He was also ready to shoot in any direction, as he knew that Luffy was a teleporter. But he certainly didn't expect Luffy to take a few simple and weaving steps, dodging all of the rapidly fired volley of magical gunshots.

"Hmm, you're slow too!" said Luffy, as he smiled at the dumbstruck Fairy Tail mages, "Man, you people must be weak, to be defeated by this guy!"

But Luffy didn't get another word in as a massive blast was sent at Luffy, which he easily dodged. Any other person facing Hades would have trembled by now at the sheer amount of rage and magical energy that he was emanating, but not Luffy. He soru'd again, but this time Hades was ready for him.

**Armament Enhancement- Gomu Gomu no Muchi**

Hades did manage to block Luffy's kick, but to his frustration, he found himself skidding back uncontrollably and hitting the floor. His arms were paining immensely where he had blocked Luffy's kick, almost to the point of causing him to cry out.

'_Ugh! It seems his damage is amplified when he uses this armament. But I'll know what to avoid, because the enhanced part turns black. As of yet, till I don't know any better, he uses teleportation magic, some sort of amplification magic, stretching magic and prediction magic. All in all, a dangerous foe. Curses, what a strong brat! Must be a secret trump card of Makarov,'_ thought Hades.

"Very well, we shall have a good fight, brat," Hades said contemptuously, while Luffy just laughed.

"Shishishishi! If you say so, old man," said Luffy. Hades released his magic aura to his maximum point trying to use his demon eye, to make Luffy feel fear, but nothing happened. In turn, Luffy tuned serious this time.

**Gear Second**

"ORRAGH!" cried Hades as he fired off one of his magical chains at Luffy. Luffy soru'd out of the way, but Hades was prepared. Where Luffy reappeared, there he shot his other clawed chain, even as his other chain was picking up the gigantic table, all set to smash him. But he was surprised when Luffy soru'd again and appeared behind him, ready for to give a devastating punch to Hades.

**Gomu Gomu no Jet Pistol**

Hades went flying and crashed through the wall of the room into another. He was just as astounded as the Fairy Tail members.

"What the...!"

"He's strong!"

"Kick the old guy's ass!"

"Was...was that a PUNCH?!"

"...!"

'_What is this brat? The entire time I had been thinking that he was using teleportation magic, I was wrong! It was his SPEED! No...this boy definitely needs much more attention then I would give to Makarov!' _thought Hades. He then got up and reinforced his body with magic. And then he was ready for another clash.

**Gomu Gomu no Jet Stamp**

This time Hades blocked the attack and skidded back, but even during his uncontrollable movement, he as already casting a spell, as he knew this battle was on a degree unlike any battle.

**Amaterasu 100 Formula Seal**

Luffy soru'd behind Hades, even as the attack blew away a part of the room, and attacked without wasting a moment.

**Gomu Gomu no Jet Hammer**

Hades instinctively cast a strong defensive spell around himself, but it wasn't enough. Luffy's attack broke through the defense and hit Hades in his back, though it did not pain him due to the defense having taken the brunt of the blow and the remaining impact of the attack being not enough to break through his reinforcement. But Luffy was not the kind to wait for his opponents to rise without defeating him, so he punched Hades from close range in his gear second mode. This blow planted Hades straight into the floorboards, breaking through his reinforcements. This time Luffy backed away and deactivated his gear second, thinking that he had defeated Hades.

"The ossan was not so strong," mumbled Luffy, dissatisfied with his fight. But he had to hold his tongue in order to dodge a powerful blast.

"Hmm, so you are tough after all!" said Luffy, and Hades reactivated his magical aura.

"You have no idea, conceited little brat!" replied Hades, "Although I like you. Do you want more power?"

"Power?" said Luffy, "I have enough power to keep my friends with me, then I don't care about power."

"That's a lie! If you did not care about power then why would you be so strong? You must have a desire to be at the top of the world," countered Hades.

"I do actually want to become the person with the most freedom in the world. I'll become the Pirate King!" said Luffy, grinning fiercely, "And in order to achieve my goal I must be strong."

"Come with me then, join me! I will help you become stronger than you already are. You just need to stay under me boy, and together we shall be unstoppable! You will also be able to become the Pirate King then! You can be as the second in command under me!" said Hades, trying to pressurize Luffy into joining under him.

"Don't listen to him!" cried Erza from where she lay, unwilling to let go of this final ray of hope that's come to them with enough power to outmatch even Hades, "He's telling you li..."

"Unstoppable? I already said I just want to be the most free man, not an unstoppable one. My obstacles and oppositions will vanish, that's what being unstoppable means. If I join you and become unstoppable, it will be too boring an adventure, unlike gaining my own strength bit by bit standing in my own feet," said Luffy, shading his eyes with his straw hat, "Also, I'll have to work under you. I never call anyone my superior or work under anyone. I like to be the captain and lead, rather than be led by someone. Like I said, I want freedom. To hell with your 'unstoppable'! I will stop you myself to prove that you are wrong! I will cherish my freedom, no matter what you say! I will myself become THE PIRATE KING!"

**Armament Hardening...**

And then Luffy attacked, and he attacked mercilessly this time.

**Gomu no Bazooka**

Hades was blasted back, but as he saw Luffy's anger dominating his speech, he had ample time to brace himself. That's why even tough Luffy had gotten a clean hit, Hades was still standing, although in a bad state, his breath coming out in ragged gasps.

"W..ell, boy...It...se..ems...tha..t you n..need to be...taught a lesson," panted Hades, "This art...of making monsters...from rubble and dust is from Zeref's book of spells. I can create terribly powerful monsters from the lowliest stone, and just one of them is so powerful that it is pointless to resist! Prepare to face now the dismay of your life!"

Hades spawned strong and ominous looking monsters from rubble, till there were about a score of them. But Luffy wasn't in the least bit intimidated.

**Gomu Gomu no Gatling Gun**

Within a few seconds all the monsters that had spawned from the splinters, slabs and debris were blown back into their original forms by Luffy's fierce armament imbued attack.

"Wha...what?" Hades cried out in shock.

"Hey, mister!" cried Lucy, "That person had nearly defeated our Guild and Master. So please..."

"It not like me to say this...but please defeat him for us!" beseeched Gray.

"You're STRONG! You can defeat him!" hollered Natsu, very excited by the strong fight going on before him.

"You can do this, you have the strength within you!" encouraged Erza.

"Please...mister...!" said Wendy. And then Luffy grinned. He looked so confident that it was almost like a bright aura around him.

"Don't worry," he said grinning ear to ear in a confident manner, "The old guy is going down!"

"Do not get overconfident! You're a hundred years too young to defeat me!" Hades roared, charging up a huge blast. Luffy paid it no heed and rushed at Hades, meaning to finish him off. As Luffy was within a striking distance, Hades unleashed his devastating explosion upon Luffy, who was totally consumed by the roaring explosion, which the Fairy tail mages witnessed with wide eyes. But a smile leapt unbidden into their faces as the saw Luffy come out of the explosion unscathed, with his armamented black arms crossed for defense, all the while retaining his momentum. And the next moment, he was upon Hades.

Luffy punched Hades with all his might using his haki imbued right arm, making him cough out blood like a fountain and crash through numerous walls. Luffy himself was surprised as he never felt Hades having as weak resistance as this before. Hades was out like a light, with blood pouring out of his mouth and nose. Overall he was in a bad shape.

"Huh, did he just grow weaker?"

* * *

In the power control room of the Grimoire heart room stood three triumphant exceeds. There, upon a lofty platform, stood the bitter remains of some kind of a 'heart'. A sign was emblazoned on the platform, reading 'Grimoire Heart'.

Pantherlily smirked at Happy and Carla, while holding off some troops of weak Grimoire Heart mages with his newly acquired Musica Sword. Upon the mages' face was written horror and despair at the sight of the destroyed heart. And there proudly stood Carla and Happy, who had done the commendable job of destroying the heart.

* * *

"Who are you?"

The question came from Erza. She was starting to have doubts in her mind. First that swordsman and this person. It seemed as if the island was suddenly full of a group of powerful individuals. If she was not wrong, then Gray was assisted by a mysterious skeletal swordsman. And they were not sure who had created the mysterious explosion that had severely damaged both Capprico and Loke, thus making the defeat of Zoldeo easier. And now that she thought about it, there were a lot of unexplained things going about in the island. The defeat of the first two intruders, the occurrence of only six out of the seven kin of purgatory, the inexplicable roar of a monstrous beast...things indeed were really amiss in the island.

"Hmm? But I already told you all! I am Monkey D Luffy, and I will become the pirate king!" Luffy said enthusiastically. But then he remembered something.

"Oh! My crew!" he cried.

"Your crew?" Erza repeated.

"Yeah! I cannot be a pirate king without a pirate crew, can I?" said Luffy, and then he seemed to have a very bright idea.

"Hey! I forgot!" he exclaimed, "You all! Join my crew!"

"I don't wanna," replied Natsu, "Although you are strong, I already have a family greater than a crew."

"I decline," Erza said simply.

"Aww!" Luffy said pouting, "You all don't wanna join my crew?"

"I'm sorry, but yeah," said Lucy.

"I agree with flame brains," said Gray.

"I do..don't...cannot join!" Wendy stammered, being still a bit intimidated by Luffy.

"Aww...but still, I have to get back to my crew!" shouted Luffy and shot out of the ship like a meteor, running and shouting all the while.

"Zooorrrrrooooooo...Sanjjjiiiiiiiiiiiiii...all of yooouuuuuuuuu...! Wait for meeeeeeeeeeeee...!"

'_A lot of thing will have to be clarified. This war...it seems as if a lot of things were twisted and influenced beyond our knowledge by some mysterious group'_Erza thought, looking at the back of the rapidly retreating man.

And then Luffy was gone.

* * *

Urtear used her arc of time to restore everything in Tenrou island back to the way it was, including the tenrou tree and the magical power in the island. She had committed grave mistakes all her life, and now she had to repent. She wanted these people, the people whom she had wronged, to prosper and stay in peace. They deserved it. She only wished she could pay the price of destroying Jellal and Meredy's life. And she could always give them solace by ending her miserable and accursed existence.

Little did she know that Meredy was behind her, watching her with a cold and betrayed look.

* * *

"Auugh!" cried Happy, running into the room with Carla and Pantherlily, with a lot of enemies following them close behind.

"Shit, I ran out of magic!" cursed Pantherlily, as Urtear's arc of time had restored the magic to the time before when Azuma uprooted the Tenrou tree, and he was hopelessly out of magic at that time. As for the others in the room, they were full of magic during that time, so it would be no hassle to defeat them. But it was still not these five people who had given then the pause. The entire Fairy Tail guild that was upon the island was at the doorway.

"Arrgh, it the entire guild of Fairy Tail! And look, they defeated Hades-sama! Our master must've been defeated by that monster Makarov! Uahhhh!" they cried, but when Makarov lifted his hand, they became silent as stone.

"Leave this island," Makarov said calmly. And the effect was profound. The Grimoire heart members immediately fled the scene, stampeding in the direction of the ocean.

There was then a moment of silence, and then the guild burst into a cheer, for the first time feeling that they had won the war with Grimoire Heart and reveling in that thought.

* * *

Zoro clambered up into the Sunny, thankful that he had found it at last. Chopper had come aboard just a few minutes ago. But there was still no sign of Luffy.

"This island's strange," Nami was saying, "The air here feels as if it were being protected."

"Hmm..." said Robin, looking up at the sky. Truth be told, something about this entire place was rubbing her the wrong way, setting off the assassin's instincts within her. Therefore she had attacked that woman without mercy or hesitation as soon as it became clear that she was very strong and dangerous. If she had already not been so wary and had not closed off her heart, the battle perhaps would have gone differently. And there would have been more information. Still, from what she had gathered, there was an ongoing war in that island, so it was not suprising how the _other_ woman had acted.

"Well, I am telling you that the island is under a SUPER attack. That's what the animal guys that I fought had said," Franky added.

"I'm still angry that Luffy and the shitty swordsman had a very good fight, while I was left behind!" Sanji said.

"But I believe you did get into a little brawl," Robin remarked calmly.

"Yes, Robin-chwan!~" Sanji cried, instantly flipped into his mellorne mode.

"What a wuss," Zoro drawled, looking at Sanji lazily with his good eye.

"What did you say, you third-rate swordsman! I'm going to grind that stupid moss-filled head of yours!" roared Sanji getting in a kicking position, while Zoro unsheathed his swords.

"Bring it on, you ero-cook!" he roared in reply. And the two started fighting in a corner, which no one paid any heed to, except Franky loudly swearing at them about what he would do to them if something happened to the Sunny.

"You know, I fought a guy who could create thing out of nowhere!" Chopper said, "And he had a cool way of speaking too!"

"Yeah...I met a moron too," said Nami in a disinterested way, "He thought his fruit ability was some kind of magic."

"Yohohohoho! I met a young lady too! She had some strange powers. It was a shame that I had to fight her, so much that it pains my heart! But I don't have any heart! Yohohohoho! Anyways, I asked her if I could see her panties, but she attacked me!" Brook narrated, while Ussopp sweat-dropped at the comment.

"Like any sane woman would not attack you if you did that," Nami said sighing.

"And I fought two people too!" Ussopp said, beginning to exaggerate his report, "I totally dominated them. I took them down in just one single explosion..."

"Namiiiiiiiiiiiii...Frannnnkyyyyyyyyyyyy! Where are yooouuuuuuuu...?"

Immediately things stirred up aboard the ship, not that it was not stirred up already!

"Luffy!" everybody cried out in unison. And then a form came flying and smashed right into the foremast of the ship. It was Luffy.

"Whoa! Where am I?" Luffy asked to himself, and then he saw his crew starting at him, "Oh! Hey guys! I'm back! Now let's explore this island together!"

"Idiot!" Nami cried, hitting Luffy in the head, "You come back to your crew and that's the first thing you can say?"

"She's right, Luffy-san," said Robin, "Tell me, did you have any fight upon the island?"

"Yeah! I did fight an old guy, and met some cool people too!" Luffy replied, and everyone had gathered by now and were sitting around Luffy, while he himself sat down, "You know, I asked them to join my crew, but they declined. I didn't talk to them much about that, since they said they had their own crew that they didn't want to leave. And I've got to make Jimbe join first. But now that I think, maybe I can pressurize their captain to join my crew with their own crew!"

"Absolutely not!" said Nami, sounding firm about her decision.

"Aww, you're no fun..." Luffy said, pouting. But then everyone turned to Robin, who had cleared her throat to gain the crew's attention.

"I think I may have guessed a few things," said Robin, "First of all, I think that the storm had carried us to this island on the New World, the location of which we do not know. Possibly a special and island."

"Yeah..." Nami interrupted, "The advanced log pose are kinda not working."

"And this Island is in the possession of the crew that Luffy-san spoke of," Robin continued, "But this island, I believe, was attacked by another crew, possibly a turf war. Now, each of us had a fight. So from what I could glean, Shipwright-san had fought the very first heralds or the first wave of the attacking crew, then Cook-san, taking in account the behaviors as he described, had fought a defending man, who Chopper-kun and Nami-san fought is quite unclear, I in my haste fought a defender, Longnose-kun defeated both the attacker and the defender, Swordsman-san fought an attacker, as no defender would destroy their own island, and finally Luffy-san had fought the captain of the invading crew. And since we did unknowingly take part in a war between two crews and help the defenders successfully retain their island, I believe we should make an alliance with them. So...what are your orders, Luffy-san?"

"...I'm hungry," replied Luffy, and everyone face-vaulted at his reply.

"You were supposed to take a decision, idiot!" Zoro cried, growing a tick mark on his head.

"Well then, there is no helping it then," Nami said sighing, "Let's have something then."

"Yosh! And then we make allaiphants thingy with the mystery crew!" Luffy cried enthusiastically.

"It's an alliance...you shitty captain," Sanji drawled and retreated into the kitchen to make ready a grand feast in commemoration of their first fights in the New World.

The sky of the Tenrou Island was suddenly filled by a dark malice as it circled the island, wheeling far above where eagles fly. Today there would be no survivor in the island. After all, he himself had come to the island, called hither by evil hearts. He knew not, whether anyone was there or not, but he knew that since he himself had come, there would be no island at the end of the day. For he was the dragon of the apocalypse. He was ACKNOLOGIA.

The Straw Hats were having their rather hectic and noisy lunch, when a roar suddenly rang out in their ears. And just after that, a tremor shook the island and their ship. All the male Strawhats came out into the lawn, where the two women already were. Zoro and Sanji each had a restraining hand on Luffy's shoulders.

"What was that?" Ussopp asked, and the nervousness on his voice could not be hidden.

"I don't know..." Nami replied, sounding equally anxious.

"It was probably nothing," said Franky. But the moment he said thus, another hideous roar rang out, this time intermingled with the battle cries of _humans_!

"Arrgh! A monster! A monster!" Chopper cried and ran around in circles. And then suddenly, a great form rose from the island and took off into the skies above, shocking every present Straw Hat on board.

"Whoa! What _is_it?"

"My eyes feel like popping out of the sockets, only I have no eyes! Yohohoho!"

"That..that can't be..."

"What? I never knew they were real!"

"The hell is that thing...!"

"WAAHHH! MONSTER!"

"I cannot believe it..."

"Is THIS why the log pose aren't moving?"

"Its...its a DRAGON!"

And sure enough, the dragon, one of the deadliest of its kind, was fed up with this island. And it would do what it was best known for. Its final dooming elemental roar.

Acknologia used its elemental roar, even as the Straw Hats started wide-eyed at the blast of magic heading in their direction, and the Fairies joined hands in hopes of defending the island.

In this last, bitter moment was Fairy Tail defeated, and the fairy island vanished from the face of the Earthland, crumbling the pride of the Greatest guild in Fiore. And along them all disappeared the great pirate crew of the grand line.

Fate had finally begun spinning its webs.

**That was the final chapter of this arc! Hope you liked it :) Now, sadly, my internet will shift to offline mode till I finish my exams :( Hope everyone understands...**

**As for reviews:**

**Mordalfas Grea: I will see what I can do...**

**Rellik Eht Deraj: Well, that's your opinion, and I respect it. And the power lvls that I gave in the last chap were just approximate and warped around. But if you ask me about my opinion, I will point out a few things. Please do not think that I am trying to downplay Zoro or telling you to change your viewpoint. 1)If Zoro were as strong as Luffy and Luffy fought the main villains only for plot reasons, then Zoro would've been able to defeat Lucci back at Enies Lobby, which I deem is not possible. 2) Oda himself once said that LuffyZoro=Sainji, and how would you know better than the man who himself gave life to the characters? 3) You say Luffy wouldn't have been able to defeat Daz-Bonnez, but the reverse is true too. Zoro would not have been able to defeat Crocodile. That's why Luffy made himself a crew. They would fight whom they are best suited fight and do what they are best at, without interfering at each other's work. Internally, they have no teamwork and they win not by the strength of their companions, but there still is a subtle coordination between them. They know each other's place and leave them to do finish their work by their own strengths, being content to believe in each other.**

**Well that said, I knew it would be bad if anybody bought up a question on the power level. It's a delicate matter, and when approached lightly, it may create a chaos. So next time anybody brings this topic up, I'm not going to respond, unless someone just has a question. The story may very well turn into a shitstorm of worthless debate. Seriously, that thought scares me!**

**See you all after a big gap of time! Dhanyabad!**


	7. Chapter-6: New Dawn

**CH-6: New Dawn**

A ship slowly sailed down the vast waters between Fiore and Tenrou Island. Slowly and deliberately did it sail. There was a kind of tumultuous atmosphere shrouding the ship. Hope, fear, anxiety and finality were the feelings that rolled off the ship like a solemn wave.

Aboard the ship were the mages of a great guild that was now merely a fickle shadow of the glory and strength that it once was. Max, Jet, Droy, Warren, Bisca and Alzack made up the entire crew of the ship. They were out here for one and only one end. To find their beloved comrades who were lost to them seven years ago.

"Are you sure that it's here?" asked Alzack, the gunslinger mage as he looked around with his newly wed wife Bisca using binoculars.

"According to those Pegasus guys, there was eternano in about this part of this ocean," said Warren, while observing a map.

"What was eternano again?" asked Max, leaning down upon the railing while wind whipped in his face, flaying his hair about.

"I don't know much. It was something like little particles of magic, I think," replied the telepath, never once taking his eyes off the map. But he was forced to fold it up in his fist as the constant bickering of 'we can see Levy again!', courtesy of Jet and Droy, was getting in his nerves.

"Will you two shut up? You're too noisy!" he cried in a sort of comical anger.

"It's not a certainty that everyone is alive," Max solemnly said as he took the map from Warren.

"There's been no word in over seven years. Think of the worst case scenario as well!" Warren said gravely.

An odd hush fell over the ship as the occupants grew quiet. They looked down with frustration in their eyes and a sinking feeling in their hearts. That was until Alzack happened to look up and freeze. A wordless exclamation escaped his lips. The others looked up to see what was bothering him. But what they saw made their mouth hang open wide.

An angelic person was standing upon the sea not far ahead. She was something that transcended beyond a human. Gazing upon her cloaked form, one couldn't say whether she was a child or a grown up woman. For childlike were her body proportions. Yet her face was like a kind mother's rather than that of a child. She stood upon the top of the waters barefooted, as a child would stand upon a bed.

And then she lifted her hands.

As though it were a command from the heavens itself, the sea just behind the spirit heaved and churned. And then, in front of the eyes of the stunned mages, the sea spewed up the Tenrou Island from its depths. And at that moment, a fairy protected island indeed it was. A magical sphere of the highest degree surrounded it, the sphere bearing the marks of wings and the grand symbol of Fairy Tail. And thus ended a great spell that endured seven entire years.

"THE TENROU ISLAND!" chorused the entire crew. But before they could contemplate any further, the mysterious person headed off towards the island itself.

The ship gave her the chase, and soon was docked upon the natural harbor of Tenrou Island. The mages disembarked and chased after her in the hopes that she would lead them to the missing Tenrou team. Jet soon raced ahead of them all, with Warren keeping a mental link with him. Soon after the caught up with Jet and halted in their tracks with their mouths gaping open, just like Jet.

"Natsu..."

* * *

Sanji groaned as he sat up. Why did he feel so sleepy? Maybe the shitty marimo had passed on his shitty habits to him? That very thought made his skin crawl. No. That can't be it. As if he'd ever act like the marimo. So he decided to look around. And what he saw really confused him. He was in the grassy deck of the ship. And lying asleep all around him were his crew-mates and captain. Suddenly Robin began stirring and then she sat up. Forgetting everything else he looked at Robin with lovestruck eyes and rushed towards her.

"Are you okay Robin-chan?~" he asked.

"Yes. I am quite okay. Thank you for your concern, cook-san," Robin kindly replied. She then looked around and assessed the situation in her mind. And then she grew grave.

"Is the dragon gone, Sanji-san? Do you know anything of what happened after it used its dragon-breath upon us?" she inquired. Sanji snapped out of his lovestruck mood and took upon a more contemplative one.

"No, I don't know what happened. I was thinking about it too, Robin-chan," replied Sanji. But further interaction in their part was interrupted when Brook began stirring and sat up immediately.

"Yohohohoho! That was a refreshing sleep!" he exclaimed. And then he notice Robin.

"Ah! Robin-san! May I see your panti..."

Before Brook could finish, he was promptly kicked away by Sanji.

"Dont ask her that! I will be the first one to observe that!" cried Sanji, while Robin sweat-dropped at their antics.

One by one, everyone began to get up. First Ussopp, then Franky followed by Nami, and finally Chopper. Zoro and Luffy kept sleeping, large bubbles of snot rhythmically expanding and contracting in response to their snoring.

"What do you think could've happened to the dragon? I can remember that it used a dragon-breath upon us," said Sanji.

"Yeah! What a monster!" Ussopp said trembling briefly at the memory with Chopper nodding in agreement. Ussopp really didn't expect to meet a legendary monster even if it WAS the New-World.

"Who SUPER cares?!" responded Franky.

"I wonder, how have we escaped that frightful blast without a scratch?" said Robin.

"Ah, I was chilled to my bones! Yohohohoho!" Brook added.

"Maybe we got saved by fairies?" Chopper said, thinking about how the person he fought had asked if he was a fairy!

"I was saved by fairies!~ I was saved by fairies!~" Sanji chanted happily, a perverse version of 'fairy saves Sanji' running through his mind.

"I am happy too! Though I miss not having beheld the fairy with my eyes. But it's not like i have eyes! Yohohohoho!" Brook said jovially.

"Oh come on, there is no such thing as a fairy!" said Franky. But Robin just smiled.

"Technically, we have met angels before," Robin calmly said

"That's all good and well. But what's wrong with the log post? All three of them are pointing in the north-south direction. What happened to the islands' own gravitational force? It wasn't supposed to be like this," Nami said, obviously frustrated with her predicament She walked up to Luffy and shook him in an attempt to wake him up, intent on letting the captain know of their plight. But when he stubbornly refused to leave from the world of sleep, Nami punched Luffy with all her might, sending him crashing at Zoro. The result was profound. Both Luffy and Zoro woke up with a start.

"What the hell! Get off me Luffy!"

"Where is the food? I am hungry! My stomach feels like I haven't eaten for many years."

* * *

"...I am the first Fairy tail master, Mavis Vermillion. Back then I took the strength of everyone's faith and bond and converted it all into magical power so that one of the great fairy magics, fairy sphere could be activated. It is a magic that will protect the guild from any harm. The absolute defensive magic. However everyone was sealed in a frozen state. And now, even though it's been released, a span of seven years had passed."

"So we were all saved by the first master, right?" Makarov spoke while getting emotional at the prospect. Mavis smiled and sighed.

"No, I am just an ethereal body. It was due to all of you that this miracle happened. Unwavering faith and resilient bonds can make even miracle come to your side," spoke Mavis in a proud voice, "It's become a wonderful guild, Third!"

* * *

"...and it about sums up our situation," Nami finished explaining.

"So what do you want to do, Luffy-san?" Robin asked in a kind manner.

"Eat!" replied Luffy, while everyone sweat-dropped.

"Does you stomach do all the thinking for you instead of your brain?!" Nami growled exasperatedly.

"Shishishishi! I think so!" replied Luffy, although his crew-mates couldn't tell if he was joking or serious.

"So what do you think about meeting the other group, Luff-san? You know, the crew that owns this island?" Robin asked Luffy. Luffy's face immediately lit up in excitement.

"Yosh! Let's go, get the mystery people to join the crew!" he cried and was about to promptly about to run off when Sanji's foot collided in his face. Sanji had already anticipated his response and had reacted immediately.

"Oi oi, you idiot! Just listen fully to what she says!" cried Sanji. Zoro muttered something like 'lovestruck cook' under his breath. But it had not went unheard by Sanji.

"What did you say, you shitty marimo?"

"You got a problem, dartboard brow?"

"Oh that's it! I'm gonna pound your head till it becomes unrecognizable from the grass of the deck!"

"Bring it on! I'll just slice that fancy pair of boots of yours to pieces"

So began another bout of battle between the Cook and the Swordsman. Needless to say that everyone, save Franky, paid them any heed. Robin was acting as the spokesperson and strategist.

"...if we are to contact the crew whose turf this is, we will be able to know what is going on here. Another option is exploring the island, but considering what other legendary beasts may be lying in wait for us, I am not too much inclined to go on with that option. Also, if we are to contact the other crew, we might be able to forge out an alliance. But there is the probabilit..." and Robin stopped after a glance at where Luffy was staring. And then the stunned silence found the other crew members too. Even Zoro and Sanji looked up after sensing something off. Zoro immediately slipped into a defensive position whereas Sanji...

"Ahhhh! A fairy!~ Mellorne!~ Mellorne!~" he cried enthusiastically while skipping around. Zoro tch'ed while Mavis smiled at Sanji's antics.

"Do you seek answers? If you do, then you have to follow the people you just met. They will provide you the knowledge you so desperately seek," she said, "If you wish to meet them, follow their ship. They are sailing north from here. Follow them, children of Sagras. Follow them to their guild!"

And so saying, the ethereal person vanished from their sight. Zoro frowned, as he could still sense the person around. And judging by the damn cook's confused face, he could too. The other crew members looked confused too. Although it was due to a totally different reason. They were pondering the mysterious person's words. But among it all, Luffy was beaming. He could still sense the mysterious person around, but knew that she meant no harm.

"Yosh! You heard the mystery girl! What are we waiting for? Let's go! To our first adventure in new world! Shishishishi!" Luffy spoke out loud. His crew-mates all smiled. Their captain sure knew how to be radiantly positive!

"To our first adventure in new world!" they echoed. And within a few minutes, anchors were raised, sails unfurled, and Sunny was out in the sea.

The bright ship was out in the sea again, and the crew couldn't be more happy. They were out in the grand blue sea again; their comfort, their kingdom.

**Yo, I'm back! And sorry for the loooooonng wait! Also, sorry for the short chapter :( But well, I'm glad that my exams are over and I'm finally working on it again! Yay!~ And also, a big BIG thanks to those who had reviewed and remained with my story even when I could not. *Sniff* I dont know how to thank you guys. Ah, but whatever. Lets end this for now. Dhanyabad!**


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